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What could be the length of the third side of atriangle with side lengths of 3 feet and 12 feet?

1 Answer

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The sum of the length od any two sides of a triangle is always greater than the third side

Let T be the thirs side of the triangle

3 + 12 > T ----------------------------(1)

3 + T > 12 -----------------------------(2)

12 + T > 3 --------------------------------(3)

The first equation states that T < 15

The second equation states that T > 9

Since the third equation will give us a negative number and there is no negative length, we will ignore the third equation

Putting the first and second equation together,

9 < T < 15

This implies that the third side could be any number that lies between 9 and 15

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