The base of an isosceles triangle is 3 cm less than the length of the equal sides. If the perimeter of the triangle is 36 cm, find the length of each of the sides.
2007-08-08 06:08:18 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
a + 2b = 36
a = b - 3
b - 3 + 2b = 36
3b = 39
b = 13
a = 10
2007-08-08 06:14:22 · answer #1 · answered by Dave 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The two equal sides we'll call "x" so the base is equal to "x" + 3 cm. The sum of these three is your perimeter or 36cm. So by adding the sides we have x+x+(x-3)=39 or 3x-3=39. We then have to solve the equation for x so...3x=39+3 or 3x=42 and x=42/3 or 13. We can then plug that into the original problem to check to see if it is correct so if two sides are 13 and the base is 3 less than that (13-3=10) we have 13+13+10 or 36cm.
2007-08-08 13:25:48 · answer #2 · answered by Bunnybear 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
let the equal sides be x cm
base becomes x-3 cm
according to the question
x+x+(x-3)=36
3x-3=36
3x=36+3=39
x=39/3=13
so equal sides are 13cm and baseis 13-3=10cm
2007-08-08 13:17:06 · answer #3 · answered by ruchi 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
11, 11, 14
2007-08-08 13:17:15 · answer #4 · answered by thomas 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Oh man... i believe its 12 cm squared
2007-08-08 13:10:03 · answer #5 · answered by LoveMeForMe 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋