Math problem?!?

Question

To estimate the height of a pole, a basketball player exactly 2 m tall stood so that the ends of his shadow and the shadow of the pole coincided. He found that from himself to the end of the shadow measured 1.6 m. Himself to the pole measured 4.4 m. About how tall was the pole?

If you could explain steps for this that would be great too.

Answer 1

let ab be the pole,bc be the shadow
let pq be the player then p must lie on ac because
his shadow & pole's shadow's meet at the end
now trangle abc is similar to pqc(because pq is parallel toab)
therefore pq/ab=cq/cb
pq=2m
cq=1.6m
cb=1.6+4.4=6m
therefore
ab=7.5m
thanks

Answer 2

By similar triangles you know that the height of the basketball player to the end of his shadow is the same ratio as the height of the pole to the length of its shadow.

BB player Height/ BB shadow = pole height / pole shadow

So Pole height = pole shadow length x ( bb player height/ BB shadowlength)

pole shadow length = 1.6 m + 4.4 m

bb player height = 2 m

length of bb player shadow = 1.6 m

pole height = 6 x (2/1.6)

Answer 3

Simple: Use the ratio of height to shadow length of person to estimate unknown height of pole.

ie Equation is: 1.6/2 = 6/x
x = 7.5 metres