As you can see in the given figure, there are two intersecting chords inside the circle.
Recall that the "Intersecting Chords Theorem" is given by
[tex]AE\cdot EC=BE\cdot DE[/tex]For the given case, we have
AE = 7
BE = 6
EC = 9
Let us substitute these values into the above equation and solve for DE
[tex]\begin{gathered} AE\cdot EC=BE\cdot DE \\ 7\cdot9=6\cdot DE \\ 63=6\cdot DE \\ \frac{63}{6}=DE \\ 10.5=DE \\ DE=10.5 \end{gathered}[/tex]Therefore, the length of DE is 10.5 units.