Hank has three steel beams. Beam A is 5 yards long, beam B is 6 yards long, and beam C is 12 yards long. If the full length of each beam is used, can the three steel beams be placed together to form a triangle?

Answer 1

To form a triangle, the length of the longest side must be less than the sum of the lengths of the other two sides.

In this case, the longest beam is beam C, which is 12 yards long. Let's check if it is possible to form a triangle with sides 5 and 6 yards using beam A and beam B:

12 < 5 + 6
12 < 11

Since 12 is not less than 11, the three steel beams cannot be placed together to form a triangle.