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A school building has a height of 40 feet. Its shadow is currently 13.5 feet long, and the shadow of the church next door is 20.7 feet long. How would you use similar triangles to calculate the height of the church to the nearest tenth of a foot?

Answer 1

James Atkins

church height #= 61.3# feet

Ratios: #color(white)("XXX")("school height")/("school shadow") = ("church height")/("church shadow")#

Using the given data: #color(white)("XXX")40/13.5 = ("church height")/20.7#

#"church height" = (40xx20.7)/13.5 = 61.333..."#

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.

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