Segment Lengths in Circles

[jdag]

This has been giving me some trouble. Here's what I got so far:

Problem: The tangent segment is 31. The external sacent segment is 20. The sacent segment is x. I need to find x and possibly round it to the nearest tenth.

What I got:
1. 31 squared = 20 . ( 20 + x)

2. 961 = 40+20x

3. 0 = 40 + 20x - 961

4. -20 +/- the square root of 20 squared - 4(40)(-961)

5. 20 +/- the square root of 154,160

Once I find the square root of that, I need to divide tha rest of the problem by 80, but that's what is getting to me.

[Denis]

Sorry Dag, but you need a serious talk with your teacher...

[fasteddie65]

[quote="jdag"]This has been giving me some trouble. Here's what I got so far:

Problem: The tangent segment is 31. The external sacent segment is 20. The sacent segment is x. I need to find x and possibly round it to the nearest tenth.

31^2 = 20 ( 20 + x)
961 = 400 + 20x
561 = 20x
28.1 = x