A girl found that her shadow was 4m long when the shadow of a flagpole was 12m long. If her height is 1.5m, what is the height of the flagpole?
h = the height of the flagpole
Proportion of the shadows:
4 / 1.5 = 12 / h
4 / 1.5 = 12 / h Multiply both sides by h
4 h / 1.5 = 12 Multiply both sides by 1.5
4 h = 12 * 1.5
4 h = 18 Divide both sides by 4
h = 18 / 4
h = 2 * 9 / 2 * 2
h = 9 / 2 = 4.5 m