Question

A person 6 feet tall casts a shadow 4 feet long. At the same time, a nearby tower casts a shadow 32 feet long. How many feet are in the height of the tower?

Answer 1

The height of the building is 48 feet

Explanation:

We can solve this by setting up a ratio comparing the height of the building to the height of the man and shadow of the building to the shadow of the man.

`h_b =` height of the building
`s_b =` shadow of the building
`h_m =` height of the man
`s_m =` shadow of the man

`h_b/s_b = h_m/s_m`

`(?ft)/(32ft) = (6ft)/(4ft)`

`(?ft)/cancel(32ft) xcancel(32 ft) = (6ft)/(4cancel(ft)) x 32cancel(ft)`

`?ft = 6ft x 8`

`h_b = 48 ft`