2 8
4 x
Example: In this diagram you can see that the two sides are proportional and if you make the two corresponding sides into ratios, you can find x. You already know that the triangles are similar because of AA Similar Criterion which states that if two corresponding angles in two triangles are congruent, then the triangles are similar.
This is how you would set the ratios up: 2/8=4/x. Then you would solve it and find out that x is 16. To check if it is true you would see if 2/8 equals 4/16 and it does so the two triangles are similar.
Shadow=800 cm
Shadow=202 cm
Solving: To find the height of the light pole we used AA Similar Criterion. This means that we were able to find that the triangles are similar by their two corresponding angles being congruent. For the first angle we knew that the light pole and the meter stick were both perpendicular to the ground which means that they are both right angles. By the theorem that states that all right angles are congruent, we know that one of the two corresponding angles are congruent. We are know half way done with proving that the triangles are similar. To find the next angle at the top of the triangles we used the knowledge of knowing that one of the Suns rays hits both of the triangles at that spot and creates similar angles. Since we now have two sets of congruent angles, we know the triangles are similar. Now all we have to do is set up the ratios. Since we know the triangles are similar we know the corresponding sides are congruent so we set up these ratios: x/99=800/202. Then we calculated the equation and found that x equals approximately 392 cm. We have now found the height of the light pole and completed the task.
Picture:
This is a picture of J.C measuring the shadow of the meter stick.