SOLUTION: given ac is = to df bc is = to ef prove ab is = to de

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Question 489628: given ac is = to df
bc is = to ef
prove ab is = to de

Answer by Theo(13342)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
presumably these are all part of the same line.

you have the line of af equal to ab + bc + cd + de + ef

the line would look like this:



         ---------------------------------------------------
         a         b         c         d         e         f



you are given that the line segment ac is equal to df.
you are also given that the line segment bc is equal to ef

that would look like this:


         ---------------------------------------------------------
         a         b         c               d         e         f



         ---------------------               ---------------------
         a                   c     equals    d                   f


                   -----------                         -----------
                   b         c         equals          e         f




you are given that ac = df
you know that ac = ab + bc
you know that df = de + ef

this means that ab + bc = de + ef by substitution of equals.

you are given that bc = ef

this means that you can substitute bc for ef or you can substitute ef for bc in any equation.

the equation of interest is:

ab + bc = de + ef

substitute bc for ef to get:

ab + bc = de + bc

subtract bc from both sides of this equation to get:

ab = de

you can do this because of the basic algebraic property that says:

if a + c = b + c then a = b

this follows from the fact that if you subtract the same quantity from both sides of an equality, then the equality is preserved.

you are left with ab = de which is what you wanted to prove so you are done.


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