Question

Aaden looks from a height of 15 yards at the top of his apartment building. He lines up the top of a flagpole with the curb of a street 20 yards away. If the flagpole is 12 yards from the apartment building, how tall is the flagpole?


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Answer 1

Let the apartment top be 15 yd above ground at x = 0, the curb at x = 20, and the flagpole at x = 12 with height h. The line through (0,15) and (20,0) has slope −15/20 = −3/4, so its height at x = 12 is

h = 15 − (3/4)(12) = 15 − 9 = 6 yards.

So the flagpole is 6 yards tall.