McGraw Hill Integrated II, 2012
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McGraw Hill Integrated II, 2012 View details
5. Parts of Similar Triangles
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Exercise 44 Page 590

Can you find some pairs of similar triangles?

Segment Length
PY 5
SY 4
PQ 6
Practice makes perfect

In this exercise we are asked to find lengths of three segments. Let's take a look at the given picture.

First, let's notice that, since PR is parallel to WX, △ YPS and △ WQS are similar by Angle-Angle Similarity Theorem. Using the same theorem, we can prove that △ WQS and △ WXY are similar.

By the Transitive Property of Similarity, △ YPS is similar to △ WXY. This means that corresponding sides of these triangles are proportional. PY/WX=PS/XY=SY/WY Let's solve the above proportion by substituting appropriate side lengths. We will start with the left and the middle ratio.
PY/WX=PS/XY
PY/10=3/6
Solve for PY
PY/10=1/2
PY=1/2*10
PY=10/2
PY=5
The length of PY is 5. Next, we will find the length of SY by evaluating the middle and the right ratio.
PS/XY=SY/WY
3/6=SY/8
Solve for SY
1/2=SY/8
1/2*8=SY
SY=1/2*8
SY=8/2
SY=4
The length of SY is 4. Let's add this information to our picture.
Having in mind the Transitive Property of Similarity, we can see that △ PQR is similar to △ XYW. Let's use the fact that in similar triangles corresponding sides are proportional. PQ/XY=PR/XW ⇓ PQ/6=5+ 5/10 Finally, we will solve the above proportion to find the length of PQ.
PQ/6=5+5/10
PQ/6=10/10
PQ/6=1
PQ=6
The length of PQ is 6. We can present our answers in a table.
Segment Length
PY 5
SY 4
PQ 6