Question

Billy is 181 cm tall and casts a shadow 252 cm. The tree he is standing next to casts a shadow 2637 cm long. How tall is the tree?

Answer 1

We can use proportions to solve the problem. The ratio of Billy's height to his shadow length is the same as the ratio of the tree's height to its shadow length. That is:

Tree height / Tree shadow length = Billy height / Billy shadow length

Let x be the height of the tree. Then we can set up the proportion as:

x / 2637 = 181 / 252

To solve for x, we can cross-multiply and simplify:

x = 2637 x 181 / 252

x ≈ 1902.21 cm

Therefore, the height of the tree is approximately 1902.21 cm, or 19.02 meters.