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A water tower casts a 100- foot shadow. At the same time, an 8- foot street sign casts a shadow of 6 feet. what is the height of a tower?

2 Answers

3 votes

Final answer:

The height of the water tower is approximately 133.33 feet.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the height of the tower, we can set up a proportion using the given information.

Let's use x to represent the height of the tower.

From the problem, we know that the height of the water tower has a shadow of 100 feet and the height of the street sign has a shadow of 8 feet. We can set up the following proportion:

x / 100 = 8 / 6

To solve for x, we can cross-multiply and divide:

x = (100 * 8) / 6

x = 133.33 feet

Therefore, the height of the water tower is approximately 133.33 feet.

User Nawlrus
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8.0k points
4 votes
Set up and solve an equation of ratios. Comparing shadow lengths, we get 100/6; comparing heights, we get x/8. Set these two ratios equal to one another and solve the resulting equation for x:

100 x
----- = ------ Then 6x=800, and x = 800 feet^2 over 6 feet. Your answer
6 8

must have the unit of measurement "ft."


User Drink
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7.7k points