explain why the triangles are similar and then find each length. please.

Since segments ST and VW are parallel, triangles VPW and SPT are similar. This is due to AAA (angle-angle-angle) theorem. In order to see this, we can draw the following picture
where we can see that angle V and angle S are the same, angle W and angle T are the same and angle P is the same in both triangles.
Now, since the triangles are similar, the following ratio must be preserved:
[tex]\frac{PS}{10}=\frac{PS+6}{17.5}[/tex]If we move 10 to the right hand side and 17.5 to the left hand side, we get
[tex]17.5\cdot PS=10\cdot(PS+6)[/tex]which is equal to
[tex]17.5PS=10PS+60[/tex]If we move 10PS to the left hand side as -10PS, we obtain
[tex]\begin{gathered} 17.5PS-10PS=60 \\ 7.5PS=60 \\ PS=\frac{60}{7.5} \\ PS=8 \end{gathered}[/tex]Now, since PT has the same length as PS and TW has the same length as SV, the answer is
[tex]\begin{gathered} PS=PT=8 \\ SV=TW=6 \end{gathered}[/tex]