A shape ABCDE is made up of an isosceles triangle and a rectangle. The perimeter of ABCDE is 46cm.
1) what is the length of AB?
rectangles and triangles come in many shapes. You need to pin down some of the properties a little more exactly.
Is the base of the triangle the same as one of the sides of the rectangle?
Anyway, label the sides of your figure, and add them up. They must sum to 46. Can't be that hard.
To find the length of AB, we need to know more information about the shape. Specifically, we need to know the dimensions of the isosceles triangle and the rectangle.
1) Suppose the base of the isosceles triangle is x cm. This means that the two equal sides of the triangle are also x cm each.
2) Let's also suppose the width of the rectangle is y cm, and the length of the rectangle is z cm.
Now, we can set up an equation to find the perimeter of the shape:
Perimeter = Length of AB + Length of BC + Length of CD + Length of DE + Length of EA
Since ABCDE is a closed shape, we know that AB = EA. We also know that BC = CD. Therefore, AB + BC + CD + DE + EA = x + x + y + z + x.
Given that the perimeter is 46 cm, we can write the equation as:
46 = 3x + y + z
Without additional information about the dimensions of the isosceles triangle and the rectangle, we cannot solve for the length of AB.