A 7-foot tall stop sign creates a shadow that is 2 feet long. At the same time, a utility pole creates a shadow that is 11 feet long. How tall, in feet, is the utility pole?
+127 Let's create a proportion:
actual height: shadow length
using what we have, we make the ratio
7ft: 2ft, and the ft cancels out to 7: 2
next up, we set up a variable x. the ratio of the utility pole is
x ft: 11ft, and the ft cancels out to x: 11, like before.
7:2 = 7/2
x:11 = x/11
they are equal, so
7/2 = x/11
multiply both sides by 2:
7 = 2x/11
multiply both sides by 11:
77 = 2x
isolation x:
77/2 = x, and 77/2 is the answer
+775 The ratio is 7:2. If the pole's shadow is 11 feet long, we can multiply 11 by \(\dfrac{7}{2}\) to get \(38\dfrac{1}{2}\). The pole is \(38.5\) feet tall.
