PLEASE HELP ASAP I’LL MARK YOUR ANSWER BRAINLIEST!!!

a = 1.5  

VW = 9 ft  

Step-by-step explanation:  

Since the tangent lines connect both circles, we know that the line VU and VX are congruent (equal). Thus, we can set them equal to each other and solve for a:

a + 4 = a² + 0.25                            Set equal  

a² - a = 3.75                                    Isolate a values  

a² - a + 0.25 = 3.75 + 0.25            Complete the square  

(a + 0.5)² = 4                                  Factor  

a + 0.5 = 2                                     Simplify  

a = 1.5

Now we need to calculate VW, but thats easy because its equal to TV, and since we know a, we can just plug it in:

((1.5) + 7.5) ft  

9 ft