Showing posts with label calculating tree height. Show all posts
Showing posts with label calculating tree height. Show all posts

Monday, December 1, 2008

The Shadow Knows


Ever wonder how tall that tree is in your front yard? There's a relatively easy way to calculate, using the tree's shadow.

1. Measure the tree's shadow. (say, 60 feet)

2. Measure a yardstick's shadow. (say, 2 feet)

3. Multiply the tree's shadow by 3. (60 x 3 = 180)

4. Divide that number by the yardstick's shadow. (180 ÷ 2 = 90)

5. The result is the correct height of the tree (90 feet)

So, the calculations look like this: 60 x 3 = 180 ÷ 2 = 90.

Or another way: Tree shadow multiplied by 3, divided by yardstick shadow = tree height.

After years of struggling to find out how tall that huge black locust tree was in front of my house, I finally found this method and discovered the tree was 90 feet tall.