Question

Solve for the value of x in the diagram: Show your work and explain the steps you used to solve.

Answer 1

Since EB is parallel to CD, triangles ABE and ACD are similar. So, we can set up a proportion between correspondent sides:

`AE/ AD = AB / AC`

Substituting values, we have

`16/ 40=35-x/ 35`

This implies

`40(35-x)=560 \iff 1400-40x=560 \iff 40x=840 \iff x=21`