Question

A kite flying in the air has a 12 line attached to it. Its line is pulled taut and casts a 9 shadow. Find the height of the kite. If necessary, round your answer to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

8 (7.94)

Explanation:

You can think of it as a geometry problem.

What is formed here is a triangle, which sides ate: the line, the line's shadow, and the height from the ground to the kite (here I attach a drawing).

What you need to find is the height. We will call it H.

As the triangle formed is a right one, we can use Pitágoras' theorem. The height H squared plus the squared of the shadow is equal to the squared of the line (the hypotenuse). This is:

H^2 + 9^2 = 12^2

H^2 + 81= 144

H^2 = 63

Applying squared root in both sides

H = √63

H = 7,94

So, the height is approximately 8.