Question

On level ground, the base of a tree is 20 ft from the bottom of a 48-ft flagpole. The tree is shorter than the flagpole. At a certain time, their shadows end at the same point 60 ft from the base of the flagpole. How tall is the tree?

Answer 1

The tree is `32` ft tall

Explanation:

Given: A tree is `20` ft from a `48` ft flag pole. The tree is shorter than the flag pole. At a certain time their shadows coincide at a point `60` ft from the base of the flag pole.

Since we have two triangles that are proportional, we can use proportions to find the height of the tree:

`48/60 = x/40`

Use the cross-product to solve: `a/b = c/d => ad = bc`

`60x = 48 * 40 = 1920`

`x = 1920/60 = 32`

The tree is `32` ft tall