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jmc

geometry intermediate

Problem

is a trapezoid with the measure of base twice the measure of the base . Point is the point of intersection of the diagonals. The measure of diagonal is 11. Find the length of segment . Express your answer as a common fraction.

problem
Solution
Since the bases of the trapezoid are and , these two line segments must be parallel. Now, since intersects these two parallel lines, and are alternate interior angles and therefore must be congruent. Similarly, intersects the bases, so and are congruent. We have two pairs of congruent angles, so by the Angle-Angle Similarity Theorem.

Sides of similar triangles are proportional, so since the lengths of sides and are related in a proportion, we also have that , so the length of must be that of . Since has length , must have length .
Final answer
\dfrac{11}{3}