You are 5 feet tall and cast an 8-foot shadow. A lamppost nearby casts a shadow that is 20 feet. Which equation can you use to solve for the height (h) of

Question

asked Feb 5, 2016 56.9k views

2 Answers

Thomas Crawford · Answer 1 · 2016-02-10T16:58:51+0000

Answer:

Height of lamppost would is 12.5 feet.

Explanation:

We are given a 5 feet tall boy form shadow with 8 foot.

As we know height is directly proportional to shadow length.

$\therefore h\propto s$

h=ks

where, h is height of boy, k is constant of proportionality and s is shadow length.

when h=5 , s=8

5=8k

k=(5)/(8)

We need to find height when shadow length is 20 feet.

$h=(5)/(8)* 20\Rightarrow 12.5\text{ foot}$

Thus, Height of lamppost would be 12.5 feet.