From the course: Preparing for the GMAT

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Similar triangles

Similar triangles

From the course: Preparing for the GMAT

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Similar triangles

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- [Instructor] So similar triangles in geometry are defined as triangles that have the same angle measures that have sides in a common ratio. So in this video we'll talk about what that means and when you might have to prove it. So let's say I had a couple of triangles here. Big triangle and little triangle. Let's say that I somehow knew that all their angles were the same. The corresponding angles were the same. So this angle and this angle are the same. This one and this one are the same, and so are these guys. Well guess what, that means our triangles are similar. So what that means is there's a common ratio between the side lengths in terms of corresponding sides. So let's say we were talking about the side opposite this angle and this side opposite that angle and we knew that this was an eight and this was a four. What that would tell us is that if this was a six, this would be a three, and if this was a 10, this would be a five. So see the pattern here? If we knew that we have…

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