Question

A fire hydrant 2.5 feet high casts a 5 foot shadow. How tall is a street light that casts a 26 foot shadow at the same time?

Answer 1

Explanation:

Here we know the following data:

• A fire hydrant 2.5 feet high casts a 5 foot shadow.

• A street light that casts a 26 foot shadow

So we want to know the height of the street light. Below you have the representation of this problem. We can solve this using proportions because triangles ABC and DEF are similar, so:

$\frac{h}{26}=\frac{2.5}{5} \\ \\ \frac{h}{26}=\frac{1}{2} \\ \\ h=26\times\frac{1}{2} \\ \\ h=13$

Finally, the height of the street light is 13 ft