SOLUTION: Please help??? 31. Isosceles triangle. An isosceles triangle has two equal sides. If the shortest side of an isosceles triangle is 2 ft less than one of the equal sides and th

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Question 404031: Please help???
31. Isosceles triangle. An isosceles triangle has two equal
sides. If the shortest side of an isosceles triangle is 2 ft less
than one of the equal sides and the perimeter is 13 ft, then
what are the lengths of the sides?
21. Roof truss design. An engineer is designing a roof truss as
shown in the accompanying figure. Find the degree measure
of the angle marked w.

Found 2 solutions by richard1234, stanbon:
Answer by richard1234(7193)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let x be the length of one of the equal sides, and x-2 be the length of the base. The perimeter is 13, so

x + x + (x-2) = 13 --> 3x = 15 --> x = 5. The sides are 5, 5, and 3.

No diagram for the second question...please repost.

Answer by stanbon(75887)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
An isosceles triangle has two equal An isosceles triangle has two equal
sides.
If the shortest side of an isosceles triangle is 2 ft less
than one of the equal sides and the perimeter is 13 ft, then
what are the lengths of the sides?
---
Let the length of each equal side be "x":
Then the 3rd side has length = "x-2".
----
Equation:
Perimeter = side + side + side
13 = x + x + x-2
---
3x = 15
x = 5
----
Each equal side has length 5 ft
The 3rd side has length x-2 = 3 ft
======================================
Cheers,
Stan H.
===========

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