Question

What is the smallest possible answer for X? X is a whole number.

Answer 1

9

Step-by-step explanation

For any triangle the sum of the lengths of any two sides must be greater than the length of the third side.

Thus, for this triangle,

`2x>17`

Divide both sides by 2,

`\begin{gathered} (2x)/(2)>(17)/(2) \\ x>8.5 \end{gathered}`

There is one more restriction, that x is a whole number. Hence, the smallest possible value of x is the whole number immediately greater than 8.5, which is 9.