Ways of Finding the Height of a Flagpole

Ask Someone

• The easiest way of finding the height of a flagpole, if such information is known, is to ask someone. Likely candidates who may have the answer are people who erected the flagpole in the first place. Other people who may know how high a flagpole is are janitors, maintenance personnel, building superintendents and anyone else involved in looking after the flagpole. Further, the height of a civic flagpole may be recorded in documents kept at the city hall.

Measure It

• Another way to discover the height of a flagpole is to measure it. First, make sure you get permission from the person who owns or looks after the flagpole. Do not trespass on other people's property in pursuit of the answer. Indoor and outdoor wall-mounted flagpoles may only be 5 feet or so in length. For a flagpole whose top you can reach, simply unroll a tape measure to the floor and read off the height. If the top of the flagpole is above your reach, use a ladder.

Take it Down and Measure it

• Some flagpoles can be taken down for repainting and other maintenance jobs. If the flagpole that you are trying to measure is of this type, and if you have permission to do so, take the flagpole down and lay it on the ground. Measure it with a tape measure.

Geometry

• According to Book Rags, you can also use geometry for the task, if the flagpole is casting a shadow that is on ground at 90 degrees to the pole. Measure the length of the shadow. Now hold up a perpendicular yardstick and measure its shadow. Now do some math. The length of the yardstick (3 feet), divided by the length of the yardstick shadow equals the unknown height of the flagpole divided by the length of the flagpole shadow.