a trianglar course for a sailing race is marked off by buoys. The first lef is 250 meters longer than the second and the third leg is 100 meters shorter then the first. if the length of the course is 2500 meters, find the length of each length

Answer 1

Let x represent the length of the second side.

What is the length of the first side? We know that it is 250 meter more than the second side, which is x. How do you express that?

What is the length of the third side? We know that it is 100 meters shorter than the first side. Once you've figured out (from just above) how to correctly express the length of the first side, then the length of the third side is just that value minus 100.

You should then have all 3 sides' lengths expressed in terms of x. You are given the perimeter, which is equal to the sum of the lengths of the 3 sides. So just setup an equation with the perimeter on one side and the 3 lengths summed on the other. Then solve for x.

Now that you have x, which is the length of the 2nd side, just plug that value into the expressions that represent the other 2 sides.