218k views
1 vote
Find the value of z.

X
7
y
N
3
Z =
√[?
Give your answer in simplest form.
Enter

Find the value of z. X 7 y N 3 Z = √[? Give your answer in simplest form. Enter-example-1
User Allan Ho
by
7.0k points

1 Answer

4 votes

Answer:

z = √30

Explanation:

Given similar right triangles with hypotenuse segments marked 3 and 7, you want to know the length of short leg z adjacent to the segment marked 3.

Similar triangles

The fact that all of these triangles are similar gives rise to some "geometric mean" relationships:

hypotenuse/short side = 10/z = z/3

30 = z² . . . . . . . multiply by 3z

z = √30 . . . . . . take the square root

__

Additional comment

The other two geometric mean relations are ...

x = √(7·10) . . . . . hypotenuse/long side: 10/x=x/7

y = √(7·3) . . . . . . short side/long side: y/7=3/y

The triangles are similar by AA: each has a right angle, and an angle in common with the largest triangle. Triangles similar to the same triangle are similar to each other.

User Mlynn
by
7.2k points