Can someone help me with this word problem?

Question

Tom and Carol are playing a shadow game. Tom is 6ft. tall and Carol is 5ft. tall. If
Carol stands at the shadow top of Tom’s head, their two combined shadows total 15ft.
Approximately how long is each shadow?

Answer 1

Assuming that the shadows are proportional to the size of the person (and that this is the same across all people), you can solve using a ratio. So the total height of Carol and Tom together is 11 and the shadow is 15 so the ratio of personheight to shadow is 11/15. This would, given our assumption, be equal to Tom's height/Tom's shadow and Carol's height/Caro's shadow. Therefore 11/15=6/x, x=Tom's shadow length. Cross multiply to get 11x=6(15). Solve for x. Do the same for Carol's shadow length. 11/15=5/y. Cross multiply to get 11x=5(15) and solve for y.