Stanford wants to rope off an area for a game with the width of 20.5 meters and the ratio of the length to the width of 8 to 5. What is the length of the area?

the correct option is 2.

step-by-step explanation:

according to the given information triangle abc is a right angle triangle with right angle at a. segment ab is 5 and segment ac is 7. point d is on segment bc and angles adb and adc are right angles.

it is given that triangles abd, cad, and cba are similar.

two triangles are similar if their corresponding sides are proportional.

in triangle cba, using pythagoras theorem

                      )

triangle abd and cba are similar,

                            (2)

triangle cad and cba are similar,

                      )

using (1), (2) and (3), we get

hence proved.

therefore option 2 is correct.