Question

Bert is admiring a statue in Castroville Park from 36 feet away. If the distance between the top of the statue to Bert's head is 39 feet, how much taller is the statue than Bert?

Answer 1

15 ft

Explanation:

The additional height is one leg of the right triangle that has 39 ft as its hypotenuse and 36 ft as its other leg. The Pythagorean theorem can be used to find the additional height h.

h^2 +36^2 = 39^2

h = √(39^2 -36^2) = √225

h = 15

The statue is 15 ft taller than Bert.