A man 5 feet 9 inches (5.75 ft) tall casts a shadow 14 feet in length. A nearby building casts a shadow that is 50 feet. How tall is the building?
1.61 ft
20.5 ft
38 ft
121.7 ft
2007-09-30 09:22:32 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
Even without doing the math, it's clear that the answer can't be anything but 20.5 ft.
The man's shadow is a bit more than twice as long as his height. 20.5 ft is the only answer that's even close to that.
But let's do the actual math and verify that. Divide the length of his shadow by his height. Then divide the length of the building's shadow by your previous answer to get its height.
14 ft / 5.75 ft = 2.43
H = 50 ft / 2.435
H = 20.5 ft
2007-09-30 09:34:49 · answer #1 · answered by skeptik 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think we calculate the ratio , so we get
14:5.75 =50:x
and we find the value of x to be (5.75)(50)/14 =20.5 ft
2007-09-30 16:38:30 · answer #2 · answered by The Math Queen 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
20.5ft.... divide 14 by 5.75 answer 2.434. divide 50 by 2.434 answer 20.5
2007-09-30 16:27:48 · answer #3 · answered by smithzer luvs bowie :) 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
porportions 5.75 over 14 is equal to x over 14 then cross multiply ........solve
2007-09-30 16:27:34 · answer #4 · answered by marebear 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I go with 38 I wont figure it out.
2007-09-30 16:27:10 · answer #5 · answered by financing_loans 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋