SOLUTION: A telephone pole that is 40 feet tall casts a shadow that is 26 fert long. Find the height of a mailbox that casts a 1.2 foot shadow

Algebra ->  Customizable Word Problem Solvers  -> Geometry -> SOLUTION: A telephone pole that is 40 feet tall casts a shadow that is 26 fert long. Find the height of a mailbox that casts a 1.2 foot shadow       Log On

Ad: Over 600 Algebra Word Problems at edhelper.com


    

Question 1126954: A telephone pole that is 40 feet tall casts a shadow that is 26 fert long. Find the height of a mailbox that casts a 1.2 foot shadow
Answer by ikleyn(52781) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
.
A telephone pole that is 40 feet tall casts a shadow that is 26 highlight%28cross%28fert%29%29 feet long.
Find the height of a mailbox that casts a 1.2 foot shadow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


Because the Sun is VERY FAR from the Earth, you may think that the sun light goes to the Earth in parallel rays.


It makes the right angled triangles similar (the triangle "the pole and its shadow" on one side, and 
the triangle "mailbox and its shadow", on the other side).


From the triangles similarity, you have this proportion


    40%2F26 = x%2F1.2.


From the proportion find   x = %2840%2A1.2%29%2F26 = 1.85 ft  as the height of the mailbox.   Answer

Solved.