ANSWER : 389X39+373X39-38 = ? THE X FOR MULTIPLYING

Intersecting secant-tangent theorem states that if a tangent segment and a secant segment are drawn to a circle from an exterior point, then the square of the measure of the tangent segment is equal to the product of the measures of the secant segment and its external secant segment.so to break it down: 1. pq acts as the tangent and ps as the secant with an intersection at p.sr = 21rp = 3x + 3pq = 4x + 4following to equation: tangent squared = the two segments multiplied by each otherso (4x + 4) ^ 2 = (3x + 3) • (21) simplifies to 16x^2 - 31x - 47 = 0 or (16x - 47)(x + 1) x = -1 or x = 47/162. pq acts as the tangent and ps as the secant with an intersection at p (again! )sr = 16rp = xpq = 15(15) ^ 2 = 16 • x225 = 16xx = 225/163. the interesting chords are proportional to each other so a ratio is possible to set up: ap dp 10 3 + x = = —— = pc pb 8 xcross multiple to get 10x = (3 + x)(8)x = 12

First step is to get rid of the square root. remember that a square root is the same as raising to the (1/2) power. see below: multiply exponents per exponent rules to get: remember you subtract exponents from the denominator and add exponents in the numerator so: simplify further: so a is the correct choice. if you don't understand this google exponent rules and it will you understand. look at the image results.