Hello there!
So first, yes, you find the missing length (piece plus piece equals whole part) and proportional, you just visualize ( like let's say there are two similar shapes that are smilier : ABCD~ FGHJ and let's say AB is 3 FG is 9 , so i would say 3/9 . And for CD is ,..let's say 8 and HJ is 16, so 8/16. So basically:
3 = 9
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8 16 <--- that's how you set up proportional
i hope you understand , and if not, feel free to message me!
Have a beautiful day