Question

A girl is standing in front of a statue of George Washington. When she places a mirror between them, 12 meters from the statue and 3 meters from her feet, she can see the top of the statue in the reflection of the mirror. The girl’s height is 1.2 meters. How tall is the statue

Answer 1

h = 4.8 m

the statue is 4.8 m tall

Explanation:

Let h represent the height of the statue.

Given;

girl height x = 1.2 m

Distance of mirror from statue y = 12 m

Distance of mirror from her feet z = 3 m

They both form a system of two similar triangles;

This can be solved using the similar triangles principle.

So,

Height of statue/height of girl = distance of statue/distance of girl from mirror

h/x = y/z

h = xy/z

Substituting the given values;

h = 1.2×12/3

h = 4.8 m

the statue is 4.8 m tall