Question

Joshua is 1.45 meters tall. At 2 p.m., he measures the length of a tree's shadow to be 31.65 meters. He stands 26.2 meters away from the tree, so that the tip of his shadow meets the tip of the tree's shadow. Find the height of the tree to the nearest hundredth of a meter .

Answer 1

height of the tree ≈ 8.42 m

Explanation:

The diagram given represents that of two similar triangles. Therefore, the corresponding lengths of the similar triangles are proportional to each other.

height of tree = h

Therefore:

1.45/h = (31.65 - 26.2)/31.65

1.45/h = 5.45/31.65

Cross multiply

h*5.45 = 1.45*31.65

h*5.45 = 45.8925

h = 45.8925/5.45

h ≈ 8.42 m (nearest hundredth)