SOLUTION: One side of a triangle is 2 meters shorter than the base and the other side is 3 meters longer than half the base. If the perimeter is 15 meters find the length of each side.

Algebra ->  Customizable Word Problem Solvers  -> Geometry -> SOLUTION: One side of a triangle is 2 meters shorter than the base and the other side is 3 meters longer than half the base. If the perimeter is 15 meters find the length of each side.      Log On

Ad: Over 600 Algebra Word Problems at edhelper.com


   



Question 1017003: One side of a triangle is 2 meters shorter than the base and the other side is 3 meters longer than half the base. If the perimeter is 15 meters find the length of each side.
Found 3 solutions by Boreal, addingup, MathTherapy:
Answer by Boreal(15235) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
x=base
one side is x-2
the other side is (x/2)+3
They add to 15
x+x-2+(x/2)+3=15
multiply everything by 2
2x+2x-4+x+6=30
5x+2=30
5x=28
x=5.6, base
x-2=3.6 one side
(x/2)+3=5.8, all units meters

Answer by addingup(3677) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let's call the base x. The problem says:
One side: x-2
Other side: 1/2x+3
Let's put it all together:
x+x-2+1/2x+3 = 15
2x+1/2x+1 = 15 subtract 1, both sides:
2x+1/2x = 14 Add on right, use common factor of 2:
(4x+1)/2 = 14 Add on left and multiply both sides times 2 (2 dividing and 2 multiplying on left cancel each other):
5x = 28 Divide both sides by 5
x= 28/5
5 goes into 28 5 times:5*5= 25 and leaves us 3 (28-25= 3), so simplifying we get:
x= 28/5 = 5 3/5 is the base
5 3/5-2= 3 3/5 is one side
(1/2*28/5)+3 = 28/10+3= 84/30+30/30= 114/30= 3 24/30= 3 4/5 is the other side
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Check:
3 3/5 = 18/5
3 4/5 = 19/5
28/5+18/5+19/5 = 65/5 divide and we get = 15 We have the correct answer.
28/5+18/5+19/5

Answer by MathTherapy(10552) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

One side of a triangle is 2 meters shorter than the base and the other side is 3 meters longer than half the base. If the perimeter is 15 meters find the length of each side.