Asha and Suman's mud forts have heights 8cm and 16cm. Their tops are 17cm apart from each other, then the distance between two forts is:

14cm 15cm 16cm 17cm

15cm

Difference in height (DE) = 16 - 8 = 8 cm Difference in top (AD) = 17cm By pythagoras theorem,  Base (AE) = \(\sqrt {AD^2\;-\;DE^2}\) = \(\sqrt {17^2 - 8^2}\) = 15 cm  AE = BC = 15 cm