Angie needs 108 inches of ribbon for the hem of her dancing dress. how many yards of ribbon does she need?

we have three similar triangles, because each has a right angle and shares an angle.   let's write the angles in order: opposite to short leg, long leg, hypotenuse.

cab similar to bad similar to cbd

or as ratios,

ca: ab: cb = ba: ad: bd = cb: bd: cd

we also know

ac = ad + cd

(ad+cd): ab: cb = ba: ad: bd = cb: bd: cd

(ad+cd)/cb=cb/cd

we have cb=6, ad=5 and seek x=cd.

we reject the negative root and conclude x=4

answer: 4

step-by-step explanation:

we have

using a graphing tool

see the attached figure

this is a quadratic equation (vertical parabola) open up

the vertex is a > vertex

the domain of the function is all real > interval (-∞,∞)

the range of the function is the > [-6.125,∞)

the function has two x->   and

the function is increasing over the > (0.25,∞)

the function is decreasing over the > (-∞,0.25)