At 5:00 in the evening, a man who was 71 inches tall cast a shadow that was 163 inches tall. At the same time a flagpole cast a 756 inches shadow. How tall was the flagpole?
Express your answer in two decimal places.
71/163 = F/756
so
F = 756 * 71 / 163
To solve this problem, we can use proportions. A proportion states that two ratios are equal. In this case, we can set up the proportion:
height of man / length of man's shadow = height of flagpole / length of flagpole's shadow
Let's plug in the values we know:
71 inches / 163 inches = height of flagpole / 756 inches
To solve for the height of the flagpole, we cross-multiply and then divide:
(71 inches * 756 inches) / 163 inches = height of flagpole
Calculating this expression gives us the answer.