Question

In a certain isosceles triangle, the base is 1 1/2 times as long as each leg and the perimeter is 63. How long is the base?

Answer 1

The base is 27 units long.

Explanation:

This is a solve the system question. Call the length of the base B and the length of each leg L. We are told:

`B=1.5L`

and

`B+2L=63`

Sub the first equation into the second:

`1.5L+2L=63\\3.5L=63\\L=18`

Now that we have the leg length, sub that into either of the original equations to find the base. I'll use the first equation:

`B=1.5(18)\\B=27`