A telephone pole is 55 feet tall. Jeri stands in the shadow of the pole. She is 66 inches tall, gut her shadow is 12 feet long. How far away from the telephone pole is she standing?
Note that the problem is carelessly worded. Jeri could be standing anywhere in the pole's shadow.
Now, The ratio of height to shadow length is the same for each object:
Assuming that the tips of the shadows coincide,
5.5/12 = x/55
where x is the pole's height.
She is standing x-12 feet from the pole.
To find the distance Jeri is standing away from the telephone pole, we can use similar triangles.
Let's assign variables to the relevant measurements:
Height of the telephone pole = TP = 55 feet
Height of Jeri = J = 66 inches (which is equal to 66/12 = 5.5 feet)
Length of Jeri's shadow = SJ = 12 feet
We can create the proportion:
TP / SJ = J / X
Now we can plug in the known values:
55 / 12 = 5.5 / X
To solve for X, we will cross multiply and then divide:
55X = 12 * 5.5
55X = 66
X = 66 / 55
X ≈ 1.2 feet
Therefore, Jeri is standing approximately 1.2 feet away from the telephone pole.