SOLUTION: Each leg of an isosceles triangle is 4m longer than the base. The perimeter of the triangle is 26m. Find the length of each side.

Question 27958: Each leg of an isosceles triangle is 4m longer than the base. The perimeter of the triangle is 26m. Find the length of each side.
Answer by bmauger(101) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
First you need to know a little bit of geometry vocabulary, namely that an isosceles triangle has two sides the same, called legs, and a base that is not similar. The perimeter is defined by the sum of the lengths of all sides, so for an isosceles triangle that would be base+leg1+leg2.
We'll call the length of the base "x" and the problem tells us that each leg is "4m longer than the base" so we'll write for each leg "4+x".
When we add them all up we get
We're told the perimeter is 26.
Combining x's and constants:
Subtract 8 from both sides:
Divide by 3:

So x, the base for this triangle, is 6 and the two legs are 6+4=10. So we have a triangle with sides 6, 10, and 10 with a total perimeter of 26.
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