Question

In the later afternoon on a sunny day, Shanice goes outside with a tape measure. She first measures her shadow which is 7 feet 6 inches long. She then measures the shadow of the oak tree in the back yard which is a whopping 74 feet 3 inches. Not content to stop there, she also measures the shadow of her house (taking the longest measurement possible) and finds that it is 28 feet 6 inches. Using this information, find out how much taller the tree is than the house if Shanice's actual height is 5 feet 10 inches.

Answer 1

29 feets 3 inches

Explanation:

We need to obtain the actual height of oak tree :

Converting measurement to inches :.

1 Feet = 12 inches

Shanice height, SA = 5ft 10 in = (12*5 + 10) = 70 in

Shanice shadow, SS = 7ft 6in = (12*7 + 6) = 90 in

Tree shadow, TS = 74ft 3 in =(12*74 + 3) = 891 in

Let actual tree height = TH

Using the relation :

SA / SS = TH / TS

70 / 90 = TH / 891

Cross multiply :

90 * TH = 891 * 70

TH = (891 * 70) / 90

TH = 693 inches

Height of house = 28ft 6 in = (28*12 + 6) = 342 in

Height difference :

(693 - 342) in = 351 inches

351 in / 12 = 29 feets 3 inches