SOLUTION: A flagpole is 12 ft tall casts a 9 foot-shadow. How far is it from the top of the flagpole to the tip of the shadow?

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Question 549576: A flagpole is 12 ft tall casts a 9 foot-shadow. How far is it from the top of the flagpole to the tip of the shadow?
Found 2 solutions by mathie123, stanbon:
Answer by mathie123(224) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
This is just a right angled triangle with a base of 9, and a height of 12 (assuming the pole is not tilted, which I would think is a safe assumption)
So we have a special theorem to find the length of the remaining side (what we are looking for). Pythagorean theorem!

This says:
a%5E2%2Bb%5E2=c%5E2
where c is the hypotenuse
so we have
12%5E2%2B9%5E2=c%5E2
144%2B81=c%5E2
225=c%5E2
c=sqrt%28225%29=15
So the distance from the top of the flagpole to the tip of the shadow is 15 ft. ((for questions like these, draw a picture first-- it helps a ton!))
Have a good one!

Answer by stanbon(75887) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
A flagpole is 12 ft tall casts a 9 foot-shadow. How far is it from the top of the flagpole to the tip of the shadow?
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Draw the figure.
You have a right triangle with height = 12 and base = 9
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Hypotenuse = sqrt[12^2+9^2] = 15
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Cheers,
Stan H.
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