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Tom is 5 ft 6 in. tall. To find the height of a building, he measured his shadow and the building's shadow. What is the height h of the building? HELP ASAP!

Tom is 5 ft 6 in. tall. To find the height of a building, he measured his shadow and-example-1
User ZooKeeper
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2 Answers

4 votes

Answer:44 ft

Explanation:

Convert all measurements to a single unit, inches, using the fact that 1 foot is equal to 12 inches.

MN=(26⋅12) in.

Simplify.

MN=312 in.

QR=(3⋅12) in.+3 in.

Simplify.

QR=39 in.

PQ=(5⋅12) in.+6 in.

Simplify.

PQ=66 in.

LN and PR are parallel because the rays of the Sun that form them are parallel. Therefore, the angles they form with the ground

are congruent: ∠N≅∠R

∠M≅∠Q by the Right Angle Congruence Theorem.

Therefore, by the Angle-Angle Similarity △LMN~△PQR

Find LM . Set up a proportion with the lengths of the known sides and the unknown length (height of the building).

PQ/QR=LM/MN

Substitute the values.

66/39=h/312

Cross multiply.

39h=66(312)

Simplify.

39h=20592

Divide both sides by 39 .

h=528

Therefore, the height of the building is 528 in., or 44 ft.

User CocoNess
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4 votes

I believe your answer would be 44 ft. I could be wrong, but I got 26 ft/3 ft 3 in = 8. 5 ft 6in × 8 = 44 ft.

User Maxadorable
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