In triangle geometry, a midsegment connects the midpoints of two sides of a triangle and is parallel to the third side. The length of the midsegment is always half the length of the third side.
In your case, the midsegment \( \overline{XY} \) has a length of 16 units. According to the properties of midsegments:
\[ \overline{XY} = \frac{1}{2} \cdot \overline{AC} \]
To find the length of \( \overline{AC} \), we can rearrange the equation:
\[ \overline{AC} = 2 \cdot \overline{XY} \]
Now substitute the length of the midsegment:
\[ \overline{AC} = 2 \cdot 16 = 32 \]
Thus, the length of \( \overline{AC} \) is:
\[ AC = 32 \text{ units} \]