How do you determine the height of a mountain?

Answer 1

There is more than one way:

1. You could use a ruler and a helicopter. If your ruler is 12 inches long, then count how many rulers tall the mountain is. After that, multiply your number by 12 to know about how many inches tall the mountain is.
2. Another way is to use the Pythagorean Theorem. Measure how long the mountain is across (in other words, measure the diameter of the mountain's base), then divide your number by 2. After that, measure the distance from the foot of the mountain to its peak while hiking (you should be counting diagonally). Now, for the Theorem: Subtract the square of the half of the diameter's base from the square of the diagonal. Square root the difference to find your mountain's height.
3. If the sun is up and shining, measure how tall you are, then measure how long your shadow is. After writing your numbers down, measure how long the mountain's shadow is. Multiply that number with your height, then divide your product by the length of your own shadow. Your quotient will be the height of the mountain, if you did quickly, since Earth will be rotating at about 1,000 mph counter-clockwise while you're doing all that math.