5. Similar Triangles and Indirect Measurement
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We are given the following situation and we want to find the height of the nearby man.
We can see that this is a shadow problem. We can assume that the angles formed by the sunbeams when the objects are hit by the light are congruent. The two shapes that are created by the sunbeams are right triangles.
Cross multiply
acb=ca⋅c+b
a⋅cb=ca⋅b
Multiply
Calculate quotient
LHS/34=RHS/34
Calculate quotient
Rearrange equation