Final answer:
The length of the shortest side of the triangle is 16 units.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the length of the shortest side of the triangle, we need to find the values of x that correspond to the side lengths. We can set up an equation using the perimeter and solve for x. The equation is: 2x + (4x - 7) + (16 + x) = 65. Simplifying the equation, we have: 7x + 9 = 65. Subtracting 9 from both sides, we get: 7x = 56. Dividing both sides by 7, we find that x = 8. Now we can substitute this value back into the expressions for the side lengths. The shortest side is 2x = 2(8) = 16 units long.