Stage 17 · Similarity & Dilation

17.7.1 Measuring Height with Shadows

17.7 Similarity in Action: Measuring Heights and Distances

Point 1 of 4

17.7.1 Measuring Height with Shadows

Core idea

At the same moment a person's shadow and a tree's shadow stretch in step, so person:person's-shadow = tree:tree's-shadow lets you scale up to the tree's height.

Module goal. We use similar triangles to reach heights and distances we can't touch, bringing this stage down to the real world and training the skill of turning a real scene into a similar-figure model.
eastmath.com · 17.7 Similarity in Action: Measuring Heights and Distances · 17.7.1 Measuring Height with Shadows