Question

a ferris wheel casts a 42 M shadow. a man two meters tall casts a 3 m shadow. how tall is the ferris wheel (in meters)?

Answer 1

Considering the smaller triangle

`\begin{gathered} tan\theta\text{ = }\frac{opposite}{\text{adjacent}} \\ \tan \theta\text{ = }(2)/(3) \\ \theta=tan^(-1)((2)/(3))=33.69Degrees^{} \end{gathered}`

Considering the bigger triangle

`\begin{gathered} \tan \text{ (33.69) =}(x)/(42) \\ \frac{2}{3\text{ }}=\text{ }(x)/(42) \\ x\text{ = }\frac{42\text{ }*2}{3} \\ x\text{ = 28m} \end{gathered}`

The length of the ferris wheel is 28meters