The flagpole casts a shadow that is 28ft long, at the same time, a student with a height of 5ft casts a 9ft long shadow.
The flagpole and its shadow form a right triangle, the same happens with the height of the student and the shadow he cast, both triangles are similar:
If both triangles are similar, then their corresponding sides are at the same ratio, so that:
[tex]\frac{x}{5}=\frac{28}{9}[/tex]From this expression you can determine the height of the flagpole, multiply both sides of the equal sign by 5:
[tex]\begin{gathered} 5\cdot\frac{x}{5}=5\cdot\frac{28}{9} \\ x=\frac{140}{9} \\ x\cong15.56ft \end{gathered}[/tex]The flagpole has an approximate height of 15.56ft
