Question

Isaiah wants to know the height of a water tower. He measures the shadow of the watertower and finds that it is 16 meters long. Isaiah also knows that a nearby cell phone towerthat is 45 meters tall is casting a shadow 24 meters long. How tall is the water tower?

Answer 1

Since the rays of the sun are seemingly parallel as seen from Earth, the corresponding sides of the triangles are proportional.

This means that:

`(x)/(16m)=(45m)/(24m)`

Multiply both sides by 16 m to find the height x:

`x=(45m)/(24m)\cdot16m`

Simplify the expression on the right hand side of the equation:

`x=30\text{ m}`

Therefore, the water tower is 30 m tall.