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A 6 ft tall tent standing next to a cardboard

box casts a 9 ft shadow. If the cardboard
box casts a shadow that is 6 ft long then how
tall is it?

User Ken Geis
by
7.3k points

2 Answers

5 votes

Final answer:

By setting up a proportion based on similar triangles, we find that a cardboard box casting a 6 ft shadow next to a 6 ft tall tent casting a 9 ft shadow is 4 ft tall.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question involves using similar triangles to find the height of an object based on its shadow length when compared to another object and its shadow. This type of problem is commonly found in geometry, a branch of mathematics. Given that a 6 ft tall tent casts a 9 ft shadow, and a cardboard box casts a shadow that is 6 ft long, we can use the ratio of the heights to the shadows to find the height of the cardboard box.

We set up a proportion:

Tent height / Tent shadow = Box height / Box shadow

6 ft / 9 ft = Box height / 6 ft

To find the height of the cardboard box, we cross-multiply and solve:

Box height = (6 ft × 6 ft) / 9 ft

Box height = 36 ft² / 9 ft

Box height = 4 ft

So, the cardboard box is 4 ft tall.

User Wolfsbane
by
7.8k points
6 votes

Answer: 4

Step-by-step explanation:

9/6=3/2(1.5)

6/1.5= 4

User Csaba Okrona
by
8.8k points