The question describes a situation where a 13-meter ladder reaches a window 12 meters above the ground. When the ladder is turned to the other side of the street and touches a window 5 meters high, the task is to determine the width of the street.

This can be approached as a geometric problem using the Pythagorean theorem. Let the width of the street be $x$.

For the first case (12-meter high window): $13^2 = 12^2 + x^2 \quad \Rightarrow \quad 169 = 144 + x^2 \quad \Rightarrow \quad x^2 = 25 \quad \Rightarrow \quad x = 5 \text{ meters}.$

For the second case (5-meter high window): The same ladder (13 meters long) will now form a right triangle where the height is 5 meters: $13^2 = 5^2 + y^2 \quad \Rightarrow \quad 169 = 25 + y^2 \quad \Rightarrow \quad y^2 = 144 \quad \Rightarrow \quad y = 12 \text{ meters}.$

So, the width of the street is the difference in the distances from the foot of the ladder: $\text{Width of the street} = 12 - 5 = 17 \text{ meters}.$

Thus, the correct answer is 17 meters.

Would you like any further explanation? Here are some follow-up questions:

1. How is the Pythagorean theorem applied in such problems?
2. Can this problem be solved using trigonometry instead?
3. Why is the Pythagorean theorem applicable in this scenario?
4. How does the length of the ladder affect the results?
5. What would happen if the ladder length changed?

Tip: For right-angle triangle problems, always check if the Pythagorean theorem can simplify the solution.