Question

John is trying to estimate how tall a tree is. the shadow created by the tree is 18 feet long. john is 6 feet tall, and his shadow is 3.5 feet long. using a proportion, estimate the height of the tree. round to the nearest

Answer 1

Make a comparison
$\frac{height}{shadow}= \frac{height}{shadow}$
$\frac{heightof tree}{shadow of three}= \frac{heightofJohn}{shadow of John}$

Plug the numbers into the equation above
h stands for the height of tree
$\frac{heightof tree}{shadow of three}= \frac{heightofJohn}{shadow of John}$
$\frac{h}{18}= \frac{6}{3.5}$

Do cross multiplication
3.5h = 6 × 18
3.5h = 108
h = 108/3.5
h = 30.8571..

to the nearest hundredth
h = 30.86 feet
to the nearest tenth
h = 30.9 feet