Question

The middle side of a triangle is half of 3 times the length of the shortest side. The longest side is 2 centimeters longer than the middle side. If the perimeter of the triangle is 18 centimeters what is the difference in the longest and shortest side

Answer 1

Answer:  

The difference between the longest and shortest sides of the triangle is 4 cm.

Explanation:

Step Number One:

Let the shortest side of the triangle have a length of x.

The middle side of the triangle has a length that is half of 3 times the length of the shortest side. This can be written as 1/2*3x, which equals 3/2x.

The longest side of the triangle has a length that is 2 centimeters longer than the length of the middle side. This can be written as 3/2x + 2.

Step Number Two:

The perimeter of the triangle, which can be found by adding the lengths of all of the sides of the triangle, is 18 centimeters. This can be shown by the following equations:

Shortest Side + Middle Side + Longest Side = Perimeter

x + 3/2x + 3/2x + 2 = 18

4x + 2 = 18

4x = 16

x = 16/4

x = 4

Step Number Three:

This means that the shortest side of the triangle has a length of 4 centimeters and the longest side of the triangle has a length of 8 centimeters.

8 cm - 4 cm = 4 cm

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Are you still confused? Not feeling confident in your ability to solve these types of problems? Some helpful topics to practice are listed below!

Still confused on ...

Step 1 - Practice equation solving!

Step 2 - Practice perimeter!

Step 3 - Practice addition and subtraction!

Remember: Certain problems may be tricky, but practice makes perfect!

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Answer by Math_Is_Me_123