Question

At noon, a 36 foot building casts a 20 foot shadow. Find the shadow cast by a 6 foot tree. Set up a proportion and solve. Be sure to show all your work!

Answer 1

3 1/3 ft

Explanation:

Let SHADOW and HEIGHT pertain to the building, and let shadow and height pertain to the tree.

The proportion is:

HEIGHT/SHADOW = height/shadow

Now we fill in with the numbers we know, and "shadow" for the shadow of the tree.

(36 ft)/(20 ft) = (6 ft)/(shadow)

Cross multiply.

36 × shadow = 6 × 20

36 × shadow = 120

shadow = 120/36 = 10/3

shadow = 3 1/3

Answer: 3 1/3 ft