Thread: Height of a building

A girl wants to find the height of a building. She is standing 393 feet away from the building. There is a tree 42 in front of her, which she knows is 15 feet tall. How tall is the building?
My result is= \frac{42x}{42 } = \frac{5265}{ 42}= 125.357 or 125

Based on the information in the problem alone, the height of the building has little to do with the height of the tree. It could be 1200 ft, or 20 ft.

However this could be a similar triangle problem, with more information, in which case the drawing would look something more like:

Originally Posted by Stro

Based on the information in the problem alone, the height of the building has little to do with the height of the tree. It could be 1200 ft, or 20 ft.

However this could be a similar triangle problem, with more information, in which case the drawing would look something more like:

correct sorry for adding that I just did the distance of the building minus the distance to the tree.

A girl wants to find the height of a building. She is standing 393 feet away from the building. There is a tree 42 in front of her, which she knows is 15 feet tall. How tall is the building?

Can you post the exact wording for the problem you're working on? Based on the above there are multiple solutions.

Originally Posted by Stro

Can you post the exact wording for the problem you're working on? Based on the above there are multiple solutions.

yes I can. sorry I was trying to make it shorter but I notice that did not help.


"Ilse wants to find the height of the tallest building in her city. She stands 393 feet away from the building. There is a tree 42 feet in front of her. which she knows is 15 feet tall. How tall is the building ? ( Round to the nearest foot.)

It's not your fault, the question is poorly worded. If your teacher doesn't often give "no solution" or "all real number" problems, then I'd assume this is a Similar Triangle problem, and the diagram I drew above is correct.

Solve for x:





However, if this were an ACT/SAT question, the answer would probably be something to the effect of "not enough information."

How high is her eye?

How high is her eye?

It wouldn't matter unless you could somehow link the tree and the building (often done with shadows), or if you knew the angle of her eye line, I believe.

Originally Posted by Stro

It's not your fault, the question is poorly worded. If your teacher doesn't often give "no solution" or "all real number" problems, then I'd assume this is a Similar Triangle problem, and the diagram I drew above is correct.

Solve for x:





However, if this were an ACT/SAT question, the answer would probably be something to the effect of "not enough information."

140

Originally Posted by Stro

It's not your fault, the question is poorly worded. If your teacher doesn't often give "no solution" or "all real number" problems, then I'd assume this is a Similar Triangle problem, and the diagram I drew above is correct.

Solve for x:





However, if this were an ACT/SAT question, the answer would probably be something to the effect of "not enough information."

140

Originally Posted by vaironxxrd

140

Unless someone has a different take on this, I'd go with that answer for now (remember to write in your units). However, ask your teacher to explain the problem during office hours or study time.

Originally Posted by Stro

Unless someone has a different take on this, I'd go with that answer for now (remember to write in your units). However, ask your teacher to explain the problem during office hours or study time.

Thanks for the help , I will make sure of that