Similar Triangles Guided Notes Name: ____________________

What do you already know about similar triangles? Can you guess what the word means if you don’t
know already?
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Definition. Similar shapes are ____________________________________________________________

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Definition. Similar triangles are ___________________________________________________________

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Show the following triangles are similar.

Triangle ABC below is similar to triangle ADE. DE is parallel to BC. Calculate the length of BC. Show all
work.

Extra question: Why was it important that DE be parallel to BC?

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Consider the following.

AB and DE are parallel. Explain why ABC is similar to CDE. How do you know?

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Calculate the missing side.

Calculative Summary:

 If we need to calculate a missing side, we need to know the ___________________________.

We then either multiply or divide by the _______________________.

 To show that two shapes are similar we can either show that ____________________________
_________________________________________________ or __________________________
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 In your own words: ______________________________________________________________

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Khan Academy:

Triangle ABC and XYZ

After video Summary: ____________________________________________________________

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Compare summaries with a partner. What are some things they wrote in their summary that you
did not? _______________________________________________________________________

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Classifying Triangles Song

Did you spot any similar triangles in the video?

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What sorts of real life examples can you think of where similar triangles can be used?

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 Suppose we wanted to know the height of the tree below. It’s too high to measure, but we can
connect a string from the top of the tree to the ground 30 meters away. We have a 2 meter
measuring tape. We find that the string is 2 meters high when 3 meters away from the point
where we connected the string to the ground. How tall is the tree?

How would you calculate the height of the clock tower on campus using similar triangles? Devise
a plan with your partner. Make sure your plan is doable. You do not have access to the top of
the clock tower, so we cannot connect a rope from the top to the ground.

Lesson Summary: ______________________________________________________________________

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