Question
How many isosceles triangles with integer sides are possible such that sum of two of the side is 12
CAT 2021
Correct option is
Explanatory Answer
there can be two possibilities
Sum of the 2 equal sides = 12
sum of two unequal sides = 12
if sum of two equal sides were 12 , the sides should be 6 , 6 , x.
x could range from 1 to 11 .
11 integer values exist
now when 2 unequal sides add to 12, this could be 1 +11 , 2 +10 , 3 +9 , 4 +8 , 5 +7 .
isosceles triangle with the above combinations will be
{1, 11 ,11 } ,{2 , 10 ,10} , {3 , 9 ,9}, {4 , 8 , 8} , {5 , 7 ,7}, {5 , 5 ,7}
triplets such as {1,1,11} , {2,2,10} etc are eliminated as sum of the two smaller values is less than the largest value .
so , total possibilities are 11 + 6 = 17
hence , C is the correct option