Answer:
Explanation:
We can use trigonometry to solve this problem. Let's draw a diagram:
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5ft 6in
The person's height is the side opposite the angle of elevation, and the length of the shadow is the side adjacent to the angle of elevation. We want to find the length of the shadow, so we need to use the tangent function:
tan(21.5°) = opposite/adjacent
We can substitute in the person's height for the opposite side:
tan(21.5°) = 5.5/adjacent
Now we can solve for the length of the shadow:
adjacent = 5.5/tan(21.5°)
Using a calculator, we get:
adjacent ≈ 15.38
Therefore, the length of the shadow is approximately 15.38 feet.