A telephone pole casts a shadow that is 15 feet long. At the same time, a man standing nearby who is 6 feet tall casts a shadow that is 2 feet 9 inches long. How tall is the telephone pole to the nearest foot?

1. Convert 2 feet, 9 inches to feet: 2.75 feet, since 9 inches is 3/4 of a foot.

2. Set up a ratio for the man comparing height to shadow length:

    6 feet / 2.75 feet

3. Set this ratio equal to a simlar ratio for the pole:

4. Solve the equation by multiplying by 15 on both sides of the equation:

or x ≈ 32.727272... or x ≈ 33 to the nearest foot