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12. STEM An engineer is designing solar

panels for a rover that will explore
Mars. The solar panel unfolds to an
isosceles trapezoid. The length of
one leg is 0.1.x -0.5 meters, and the
length of the other leg is 0.3.x-2.1
meters. What is the length of each of
the legs of the solar panel?

1 Answer

2 votes

Answer:

Explanation:

Let's call the length of the shorter leg of the isosceles trapezoid "a" and the length of the longer leg "b".

From the problem, we know that:

a = 0.1x - 0.5 (length of one leg is 0.1.x - 0.5 meters)

b = 0.3x - 2.1 (length of the other leg is 0.3.x-2.1 meters)

Since we know that the trapezoid is isosceles, we know that a = b. So we can set the two expressions equal to each other:

0.1x - 0.5 = 0.3x - 2.1

Now we can solve for x:

0.2x = 1.6

x = 8

Now that we know x, we can substitute it back into the expressions for a and b to find their lengths:

a = 0.1(8) - 0.5 = 0.3 meters

b = 0.3(8) - 2.1 = 0.3 meters

Therefore, each of the legs of the solar panel are 0.3 meters long.

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