Question

Given two similar triangles, what would you need to know

to find an unknown length? How would you find that
unknown length?

Answer 1

I would need to know the length of a pair of corresponding sides, so I could set up a proportion to solve for the unknown length. I would set the ratio of the known corresponding sides equal to the unknown measure, making sure I put corresponding measures from the triangles in the same positions in the ratios. Then I would cross-multiply to solve.

Explanation:

Answer 2

There is a pattern with the ratios of corresponding sides. You can see that the measurement of each side of the first triangle divided by two is the measure of the corresponding side of the second triangle. Use patterns like this to problem solve the length of missing sides of similar triangles.