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How tall is a person who casts a 4-foot-long shadow if a 15-foot statue casts a 20-foot shadow?

A) 0.33 feet
B) 3 feet
C) 5 feet
D) 3.75 feet

1 Answer

5 votes

Final answer:

The height of the person who casts a 4-foot-long shadow, while a 15-foot statue casts a 20-foot shadow, is 3 feet tall, according to the proportion from the similarity of triangles. The person is 3 feet tall, which corresponds to option B.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how tall a person is when they cast a 4-foot-long shadow while a 15-foot statue casts a 20-foot shadow, we can use similar triangles. The height of the person and the height of the statue form one pair of corresponding sides, and the lengths of their shadows form the second pair of corresponding sides. We can set up a proportion based on the similarity of triangles:

Height of statue / Length of statue's shadow = Height of person / Length of person's shadow

Let's plug in the known values:

15 feet / 20 feet = Height of person / 4 feet

Now, we can solve for the height of the person:

Height of person = (15 feet * 4 feet) / 20 feet

Height of person = 3 feet

Therefore, the person is 3 feet tall, which corresponds to option B.

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