Michele wanted to measure the height of her school's flagpole. She placed a mirror on the ground 60 ft from the flag pole, then walked backward until she was able to see the top of the pole in the mirror. Her eyes are 5 feet above the ground and she was 12 feet from the mirror. Using similar triangles, find the height of the flag pole to the nearest tenth of a foot.
a 38.5 ft
b. 20 ft
c. 25 ft
d. 55 ft
Let x be the height of the flagpole.
Based on similar triangles, we know that the height of the flagpole divided by the height of the mirror (x/60) is equal to the distance from the mirror to Michele's eyes divided by the distance from the mirror to Michele's feet (5/12).
Thus, we can set up the following equation:
x/60 = 5/12
To solve for x, we can cross-multiply:
12x = 60 * 5
12x = 300
Dividing both sides by 12:
x = 25
Therefore, the height of the flagpole is 25 feet.
The answer is c. 25 ft.