The sides of a triangle measure 7, 4 and 9. If the longest side of a similar triangle measures 36, what is the length of the shortest side of this triangle?

16

Step-by-step explanation:

OK, this might sound a bit confusing but I'll give it my best shot.

1. We know all the sides of one triangle, the smaller one. We know that the largest side of the large triangle is 36, and the largest side of our small triangle is 9. This means that they are related.

2. If we take 36 and divide by 9, it gives us 4. This number tells us how much bigger the large triangle is compared to the smaller triangle.

3. Now, we can take the number we just got, 4 and use it to find the other sides of the large triangle.

4. We need the smallest side of the large triangle. We can get this by taking the smallest side of the small triangle, and multiplying it by 4, since we know that the big triangle is 4 times larger than the small one.

5. 4 is the smallest side of the small triangle. We can multiply by 4, which is 16, and your answer!