Who Done It

Ace’s superior detective skills lead her to the Bronco Ranch in search of a fortune of stolen diamonds that was believed to be hidden there. Her investigation told her that the thief had to be one of the four ranch-hands- Nelson, Edgar, Parham, or Goodwin. As Ace walked through the garden toward the house, she heard someone approaching. Quickly, she climbed a tree where she could hide and still see part of the garden. She saw the shadow of a man as he stood out of direct view, but she noticed that his shadow extended from a rose bush to the edge of the sidewalk. The man bent down, dug up a small pouch, and ran into the house. Ace climbed down from her hiding place, pulled out her tape measurer, and measured the distance from the rose bush to the edge of the walk. Then she measured the height of several objects and the lengths of their shadows. Always prepared, Ace went back to her car, got out graph paper, ruler, and pencil, and made a graph. Then she went into the house, measured the heights of the four suspects, and made an arrest. Take a look at Ace’s notes, make your own graph, and solve the mystery.

Who did it? _____________________

When Ace was asked how she solved the case, she replied, “It was simple. I just _________________ to find out that the crook was __________ tall.”

The shape of the graph, a _______________, tells us that the size of a shadow is ________________ proportional to the ________________.

 

 

(source)