Ramesh and Suresh’s mud forts have heights 8 cm and 15 cm. They are 24 cm apart. How far are the fort tops from each other?

Answer: Option C

Let MN = Ramesh's fort & PQ = Suresh's fort
From the diagram we can see that
MR = 24 cm & PR = 15 - 8 = 7 cm
By Pythagoras theorem,
Hypotenuse² = (side1)² + (side2)²
$$\begin{array}{rl}& \therefore \text{MP}=\sqrt{{24}^2+7^2}\\ & \therefore \text{MP}=25\text{cm}\end{array}$$