Question

The length of a shadow of a building is 29m. The distance from the top of the building to the tip of the shadow is 35m. Find the height of the building. If necessary, round your answer to the nearest tenth

Answer 1

19.5m

Explanation:

Use the Pythagorean theorem.

a^2 + b^2 = c^2

The longest side, 35m, is c and the base of the triangle, 29m, is b.

a^2 + 29^2 = 35^2

Simplify.

a^2 + 841 = 1225

Get a by itself by adding -841 to both sides to cancel out the 841.

a^2 = 384

Find the square root of both sides to get rid of the exponent.

square root of 384 = ~19.5959

a = 19.5