Question

**MEDAL**
I'm creating flashcards to help me study for the ASVAB. Please help me with figuring out the correct formulas!

Standing by a pole, a boy 3 1/2 feet tall casts a 6-foot shadow. The pole casts a 24-foot shadow. How tall is the pole?

A. 14 feet <--
B. 18 feet
C. 28 feet
D. 41 feet

Formula?

Answer 1

6/3.5=1.7142...boy
pole: multiply the poles shadow by the boys ratio of 1.7142...
you should get 41 feet.

Answer 2

I dont think there is a formula for this you have to know how to do ratios.

Answer 3

@M0j0jojo
There's no layout like cross multiplication or anything like that?

Answer 4

yea you can use cross multiplication.

Answer 5

I keep coming up with
6 \[6 x 24 \div 3\frac{ 1 }{ 2 }\]
= 24
...but it's not really leading anywhere for me.

Answer 6

The ASVAB flashcard study website says this about the question:

A. 14 feet
A. Using the ratio ?, the proportion ? models this situation, where x represents the height of the pole. Cross multiply. ?, so 84 = 6x, and ? feet.

But honestly, I don't really understand what they're getting at. Does their explanation make sense to yu, @M0j0jojo ? Could you explain it to me if it does? Lol

Answer 7

what is the answer they got?

Answer 8

They're saying that the answer is A. 14ft.

Answer 9

oh okay, my bad i did it wrong

Answer 10

No worries. Haha

Answer 11

and now just do cross multiplication

Answer 12

Ah yes!
24 x 3.5 / 6
= 14.
There we go! Thanks haha

Answer 13

no problem, sorry about the mistake i did :P

Answer 14

Don't sweat it. We sorted it out :)

Answer 15

Oh and this method is similar to the similar triangle method.