Question

A surveyor needs to Find the distance across a river and draws this sketch. Use the surveyor sketch to find the distance across the river

Answer 1

The distance across the river measured as x is 32 m

Here, we want to find the distance across the river;

That is the distance measured as x

We use the principle of similar triangles

When two triangles are similar, the ratio of corresponding sides are equal

We have this as;

$\begin{gathered} \frac{10}{20}\text{ = }\frac{16}{x} \\ \\ 10\times x\text{ = 16}\times20 \\ \\ 10x\text{ = 320} \\ x\text{ = }\frac{320}{10}\text{ = 32 m} \\ \\ \end{gathered}$