Hays is standing outside on a sunny day. He is 6 ft tall and casts a 4 ft shadow. What is the distance from the top of Hays's head to the end of his shadow? Round to the nearest tenth, if necessary. 4.5 ft 5 ft 7.2 ft 10 ft

Question

Physics

Shawn Bishop

25 December, 13:56

Hays is standing outside on a sunny day. He is 6 ft tall and casts a 4 ft shadow. What is the distance from the top of Hays's head to the end of his shadow? Round to the nearest tenth, if necessary. 4.5 ft 5 ft 7.2 ft 10 ft

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Roger Stafford · Answer 1

Hays' body and his shadow are perpendicular.

So if you imagine the line from the top of his head to the end of his shadow on the ground, you have a right triangle, and the imaginary line is the hypotenuse. Then you can stand back and let Dr. Pythagoras figure out the length of the line for you, using c² = a² + b²

(Distance) ² = (Hay's height) ² + (length of his shadow) ²

(Distance) ² = (6 ft) ² + (4 ft) ²

(Distance) ² = (36 ft²) + (16 ft²)

(Distance) = 52 ft²

Distance = √ (52 ft) ²

Distance = 7.21 ft