Question

In an isosceles triangle two sides are equal. The third side is two less than twice the length of the two equal sides. The perimeter is 38 what are the lengths of the three sides

Answer 1

The equal sides' length = 10

Third side length = 18

Explanation:

Let the two equal sides' length be "x"

Let the third side length be "y"

Third side (y) is 2 LESS THAN TWICE the equal side, so we can write:

y = 2x - 2

The perimeter is 38. The perimeters is the sum of all three sides. So we can write:

x + x + y = 38

Replacing y with 2nd equation, we have:

x + x + (2x - 2) = 38

Now, we can solve this for x first:

`x + x + (2x - 2) = 38\\x+x+2x-2=38\\4x=38+2\\4x=40\\x=10`

Now, y is:

y = 2x - 2

y = 2(10) - 2

y = 20 - 2

y = 18

The equal sides' length = 10

Third side length = 18