Question

One side of a triangle is 3 times longer than the shortest side and the third side is 4 centimeters longer than the shortest side. The perimeter of the triangle is 39.How long is the shortest side of the triangle?

Answer 1

Let's use the variable x to represent the length of the shortest side.

One side is 3 times longer than this side, so it measures "3x"

The third side is 4 cm longer, so it measures "x + 4".

If the perimeter is 39, we have:

`\begin{gathered} x+3x+(x+4)=39 \\ 5x+4=39 \\ 5x=35 \\ x=(35)/(5)=7 \end{gathered}`

So the shortert side measures 7 cm.