Question

Two sides of an isosceles triangle have lengths of 6 inches and 15 inches,respectively.FInd the length of the third side.Explain your reasoning.

Answer 1

The answer is 15. Because an isosceles is a triangle wirh two equal sides, the side will have to be either 6 or 15. But for the triangle to fot the definition, the sum of two sides must be greater than the third. It couldn't be six because 6+6<15, but 15 works because 6+15>15.

Answer 2

The length of the third side is 15 inches.

Explanation:

Generally in triangles, the longest side is opposite to the greatest angle. But for an isosceles triangle, two angles are equal and so two sides opposite to these angles. The two angles are greater than the third, so the opposite sides to the angles are equal and longer than the third side.