Question

Question 14: Please help, if the sides of another sail are proportional to the main sail, and the bottom of this sail is 8 feet wide, how tall is it?

Answer 1

20 ft

Explanation:

The two triangles in this problem are proportional to each other: so, the ratio between their height and the length of their base is equal for the two triangles.

Therefore, we can apply the rule of three, and we can write:

`(H)/(B)=(h)/(b)`

where:

H = 25 ft is the height of the large triangle

B = 10 ft is the length of the base of the large triangle

h is the height of the small triangle

B = 8 ft is the length of the base of the small triangle

And solving for h, we find:

`h=(Hb)/(B)=((25)(8))/(10)=20 ft`