Similar Figures Examples Page 3

The sun casts a shadow on two trees in a field. The smaller of the two is 10.5 ft high and has a shadow 11.25 ft long. The shadow of the taller tree is 17.5 ft long. How tall is that tree?

This is actually how the heights of many tall structures are estimated!

When the sun rays hit the trees and cast a shadow it creates proportional triangles. To solve this problem, all we need to do is solve for the missing height.

So that tree is a whopping 16 ⅓ feet tall.