Similar right triangles - find the missing length

Mathematics

1 answer:

alexgriva [62]3 years ago

3 0

Answer:

This is the solution to the problem

You might be interested in

The difference between a number and 12 is 20

Alexxx [7]

the equation would be x-12=20.

the solution would be x=8.

6 0

3 years ago

A six-foot-tall person is standing next to a flagpole. The person is casting a shadow 1 1/2 feet in length, while the flagpole i

lara31 [8.8K]

Answer: 20 ft

This problem can be solved by the Thales’s theorem, which states:

Two triangles are similar when they have equal angles and proportional sides

It should be noted that to apply Thales' Theorem, it is necessary to establish the two triangles are similar, that is, that they have the corresponding angles equal or that their sides are proportional to each other.

Now, if we measure the shadow of the flagpole and the shadow of the person, at the same moment, we can use the first Thales' Theorem to calculate the height of the flagpole, knowing the height of the person.

In this case we have two similar triangles (Figure attached) where $H$ is the height of the flagpole, $h=6 ft$ is the height of the person, $A=5 ft$ is the length of the shadow of the flagpole and $a=1\frac{1}{2}=1.5 ft$ is the length of the shadow of the person.