Rosie and Gary are out for a walk and decide to estimate the height of a local tower - Junior Cycle Mathematics - Question 7 - 2017
Question 7
Rosie and Gary are out for a walk and decide to estimate the height of a local tower.
They measure the tower's shadow and find that it is 30 shoe lengths long.
They ... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:Rosie and Gary are out for a walk and decide to estimate the height of a local tower - Junior Cycle Mathematics - Question 7 - 2017
Step 1
Use the information to set up a ratio.
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Answer
Let the height of the tower be denoted as h.
We can set up the following ratio using similar triangles since both the tower and Rosie cast shadows under the same sunlight:
30h=4140
Step 2
Solve the equation for $h$.
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Answer
Now, cross-multiply to solve for h:
h=30×4140
Calculating this gives:
h=30×35=1050
Step 3
Convert the height to metres.
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Answer
Since the height is given in centimeters, convert it to metres by dividing by 100:
h=1001050=10.5m
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