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A triangle has two sides of length 1 and 14. What is the largest possible whole-number length for the third side?

User Reejesh PK
by
3.1k points

1 Answer

5 votes
5 votes

Answer:

14

Explanation:

The triangle inequality is usually expressed as ...

a +b > c

for any permutation of a, b, c.

Here, that would mean ...

1 + 14 > c

c < 15

The largest whole-number value that the third side (c) can have is 14.

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Additional comments

Some authors write the triangle inequality as ...

a +b ≥ c

If you use that version, the longest side could be 15. Such a "triangle" would look like a line segment, and have zero area.

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We can also check the shortest length:

c +1 > 14

c > 13

The smallest whole-number value for the shortest side is also 14. That is, the only triangle with whole-number side lengths of 1 and 14 will be an isosceles triangle with two sides of length 14.

User Ndasusers
by
2.7k points
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