Question

Before rock climing, fernando, who is 5.5 ft tall, wants to know how high he will climb. He places a mirror on the ground and walks six feet backwards until he can see the top of the cliff in the mirror.

Answer 1

Answer: 31. 16 ft

Explanation:

The other part of the question is:

If the mirror is 34 feet from the cliff side, determine the height of the cliff.

We can solve this problem with geometry, if we imagine two righ triangles (figure attached):

-One formed by Fernando, who is 5.5 ft tall, and the ground

-The other formed by the height
`x` of the cliff, the cliff side and the ground.

In addition both triangles are congruent, hence we can use the following relation to find
`x`:

`(5.5 ft)/(x)=(6 ft)/(34 ft)`

Iolating
`x`:

`x=31.16 ft` This is the height of the cliff