George, who is 6.25

-feet tall, needs to know the height of a tree that he is going to cut down. He notices that he casts a 10
-foot shadow when the tree casts a 28
-foot shadow. The height of the tree is blankfeet tall. Enter only the number.

1 answer

To find the height of the tree, we can use the concept of similar triangles. Since both George and the tree cast shadows of different lengths, we can set up a proportion based on their heights and the lengths of their shadows.

Let \( h \) be the height of the tree in feet. We have:

\[ \frac{\text{Height of George}}{\text{Shadow of George}} = \frac{\text{Height of Tree}}{\text{Shadow of Tree}} \]

Plugging in the values we have:

\[ \frac{6.25}{10} = \frac{h}{28} \]

To solve for \( h \), cross-multiply:

\[ 6.25 \cdot 28 = 10 \cdot h \]

Calculating \( 6.25 \cdot 28 \):

\[ 6.25 \cdot 28 = 175 \]

Now we have:

\[ 175 = 10h \]

Dividing both sides by 10:

\[ h = \frac{175}{10} = 17.5 \]

Thus, the height of the tree is 17.5 feet tall.