Question

The length of each leg of an isosceles triangle is 5 centimeters more than twice the length of the base. If the perimeter of this isosceles triangle is 95 centimeters, what is the length of the base?

Answer 1

Let's draw the situation to understand it better:

An isosceles triangle has two equal sides.

Let x be the length of the base

The perimeter is the add up of all sides:

Solve for x.

`\begin{gathered} (5+2x)+(5+2x)+x=95 \\ 5x+10=95 \\ 5x=95-10 \\ 5x=85 \\ x=(85)/(5) \\ x=17 \end{gathered}`

The length of the base is 17 centimeters.