A 24 foot ladder is leaned against a wall at 55 degrees with the ground. How far away from the the wall is the base of the ladder

We know an an angle, a hypotenuse - the ladder length - and we're looking for an adjacent side. The cosine function seems appropriate....so....

cos 55= adj / 24   multiply both sides by 24

(24) cos55= adj = about 13.77 ft from the wall