Answer the given questions about the indicated examples of this section.

In Example 9, interchange 4.0 ft and 3.0 ft. What is the answer?

Data from Example 9

On level ground, a silo casts a shadow 24 ft long. At the same time, a nearby vertical pole 4.0 ft high casts a shadow 3.0 ft long. How tall is the silo? See Fig. 2.37. The rays of the sun are essentially parallel. The two triangles in Fig. 2.37 are similar since each has a right angle and the angles at the tops are equal. The other angles must be equal since the sum of the angles is 180°. The lengths of the hypotenuses are of no importance in this problem, so we use only the other sides in stating the ratios of corresponding sides. Denoting the height of the silo as h, we have

We conclude that the silo is 32 ft high.

h 4.0 || 24 3.0' h = 32 ft