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33 votes
A painter needs to know the height of a building to estimate the amount of paint needed for the front side. When the building cast an 18 ft shadow, the 6At tall painter casts a 36 inch long shadow. How.many feet tall is the building?

User Nickford
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1 Answer

6 votes
6 votes

To solve this math problem, we shall use the ratios of the height to the shadow.

This means the height of the building divided by the length of its shadow is equal to the height of the painter divided by the length of his shadow.

Therefore, we would have;


\begin{gathered} (x)/(18)=(6)/(3) \\ \text{Cross multiply and you'll have,} \\ x=(6*18)/(3) \\ x=36 \end{gathered}

The building therefore is 36 ft tall.

**Note that the painter's shadow is 36 inches which is equivalent to 3 ft (12 inches equal 1 foot, so 36 inches equal 3 feet)**

User Alan Rowarth
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