A surveyor needs to determine the height of a tree. She places a mirror on the ground and paces backwards until she sees the top of the tree reflected in the mirror. She marks where she is standing and then measures the distance from this spot to the mirror which is $10$ feet. She then measures the distance from the mirror to the base of the tree which is $90$ feet. The surveyor's height is $54$ inches from the ground to her eyes. How tall is the tree (in feet) assuming level ground from the surveyor's spot to the mirror and from the mirror to the tree?
2026-04-09 04:00:09.1775707209
Determining Height of Tree
4.1k Views Asked by Bumbble Comm https://math.techqa.club/user/bumbble-comm/detail At
1
Let $T$ be the top of the tree, $R$ the base of the tree, $M$ the mirror, $F$ the point where she’s standing, and $E$ her eye. The angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection, so the triangles $\triangle TRM$ and $\triangle EFM$ are similar. This implies that if the height of the tree is $h$ inches, then
$$\frac{h}{54}=\frac{90}{10}\;.$$
Now just do a little algebra to get $h$, and then convert to feet.