Question

A mailbox that is 4 1/2 feet tall casts a shadow that is 6 feet long. At the same time, a nearby ferris wheel casts a shadow 84 feet long. Find the height of the ferris wheel.
60 feet

Answer 1

Answer:

63 feet

Step-by-step explanation:

Trust me got it right

Answer 2

Answer: 63 ft

Step-by-step explanation:

We can think of the shadow and height of objects as the catheti of a triangle rectangle.

We also know the relationship:

Tan(θ) = (opposite cathetus)/(adjacent cathetus)

if we define:

Tan(θ) = k (a real number, such that will be the same number for every object, because it depends on the angle θ that will depend on the position of the sun)

opposite cathetis = heigt.

adjacent cathetus = length of the shadow.

Then we have:

k = height/length of the shadow.

For the mailbox, we know that the height is (4 + 1/2) ft and the shadow is 6ft long, then we have the equation:

k = (4 + 1/2)ft/6ft = 0.75

Then for the ferris wheel we know:

shadow length = 84ft

we can write the same equation as above:

k = 0.75 = height/84ft

0.75*84ft = height = 63ft

The ferris wheel is 63 ft high.