Question 946011: Hi,
Ok so I have this problem, and it says their are two polygons that are similar. Find the value of X.
The two polygons are triangles, and one triangle has one side of 4 and another side x+1 (this side is a base). The other triangle which is larger has one side that is the length of 6, and another that is the side of 3(this side is a base).
Found 2 solutions by josgarithmetic, KMST:
Answer by josgarithmetic(39620)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! "....similar...",
We know from that, the corresponding parts are in proportion. What we do NOT know, if the parts of length 4 and of length 6 are corresponding parts or not. Are they?
If those parts do correspond, then your problem question can be answered simply through a proportion.
Check your problem description (which you maybe did not show fully in the help-request) to be sure you know how the parts of your triangles are. Maybe you may have 
Answer by KMST(5328)  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! There should be more information that you probably see in the problem, but do not realize we need it.
If you are lucky and this is supposed to be an easy problem ,
the sides that you call bases are corresponding sides,
and the other sides with a given measurement are also corresponding sides.
Then,  --->  --->  ---> 
What pairs of sides are corresponding sides should be indicated by some other information in your problem.
Maybe the drawing has marking that show that certain pairs of angles are congruent.
Also, the problem could say something like "triangles ABC an DEF are similar".
The order that the vertices are listed in that statement is important.
Corresponding parts are listed in the same order,
so the statement above means that
the pairs of corresponding angles are A with D, B with E and C with F,
and that the pairs of corresponding sides are
AB with DE, BC with EF, and AC with DF.
Then you would know that the corresponding angles are congruent (they have the same measure), and that the ratio of corresponding side lengths is the same for all three pairs of corresponding sides.
Even if is the the side that you call the base seems to be the shortest,
and the other side with a given measurement seems to be the longest of the three sides,
like in the drawing below, and it looks like the sides measuring  and  are corresponding sides,
and it looks like the sides measuring  and  are corresponding sides,
you cannot assume that it as it seems.
If we are told that the triangles below are similar,
even if it looks like the sides measuring and are the shortest and are corresponding sides,
and even if it looks like the sides measuring and are the longest, and are corresponding sides,
we cannot assume that it as it seems.
Only if we are told that ABC is similar to DEF we would know that it is so.
 and  .
NOTE: For a triangle, the word "base" does not mean anything. You could take any side as the base. Whatever side you choose as base, the distance from that side to the opposite vertex is the height.
For example, in the triangle below, to calculate its area,
I would use the sides with given measures as base and height.
It is a choice based on convenience.
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