Question

The length of a shadow of a building is 32 m. The distance from the top of the building to the tip of the shadow is 38 m. Find the height of the building. If necessary, round your answer to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

Answer: 20.5 m

Step-by-step explanation: Think of this as a right triangle with base 32 and hypotenuse 38. We are solving for the height of the triangle. To find any side of a right triangle, we can use the Pythagorean theorem, a^2 +b^2 = c^2, with a and b being sides and c being the hypotenuse. In this case the equation is a^2 + 32^2 = 38^2. From this, we get a^2 = 420, now square root 420 and you get about 20.5