A building casts a 20 ft shadow. At the same time, a nearby 10 ft maple tree casts a shadow of 8 ft. What is the height of the building?
same thing as below.
10/8 = x/20
5/4 = x/20
4x = 100
x=25
Plugging in, 25/ 20 = 10 /8
= 5/4 = 5/4
To find the height of the building, you can set up a proportion using the similar triangles formed by the building and its shadow, as well as the maple tree and its shadow.
Let's assign variables to the quantities we know:
Height of the building: B
Height of the maple tree: M
Length of the building's shadow: Sb (given as 20 ft)
Length of the maple tree's shadow: St (given as 8 ft)
We can set up the proportion:
B/Sb = M/St
Substituting the known values:
B/20 = M/8
Now, we can solve for the height of the building (B) by cross-multiplying and isolating B:
B = (20 * M) / 8
Since we don't know the height of the maple tree (M), we need to find it first. However, the information provided doesn't include the height of the maple tree, so it seems like we don't have enough information to answer the question accurately.