A boy and his friend wish to calculate the height of a flagpole. One boy holds a yardstick vertically at a point 40 feet from the base of the flagpole. The other boy backs away from the pole to a point where he sights to top of the pole over the top of the yardstick. If his position is 1 foot 9 inches from the yardstick and his eye level is 2 feet above the ground, find the height of the flagpole.
I'm really not sure how to start with this one. I remember doing "height of ____" problems in algebra, but never like this. I drew a diagram, and marked the angle at the flagpole and the ground 90º. Now, I can take a protractor and measure the angle of the top of the flagpole and the line from his line of sight, but I can't make it perfect because part of the problem is near the binding part of the page, so the diagram is curved and I can't know if my picture is exactly perfect. Even if I did know, I'm not quite sure what good it would do me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
I'm really not sure how to start with this one. I remember doing "height of ____" problems in algebra, but never like this. I drew a diagram, and marked the angle at the flagpole and the ground 90º. Now, I can take a protractor and measure the angle of the top of the flagpole and the line from his line of sight, but I can't make it perfect because part of the problem is near the binding part of the page, so the diagram is curved and I can't know if my picture is exactly perfect. Even if I did know, I'm not quite sure what good it would do me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!