How do you find a simpilfied perimeter of a triangle that has 3 different measures?

Question

How do you find a simpilfied perimeter of a triangle with these measurements: 8x, 10x, and 6x. Please help me. I'm a 6th grader and I'm in Introductory Algebra and I don't understand.

Answer 1

You know that a triangle has 3 sides, and the perimeter of a triangle is the sum of all the sides of the triangle.

 

The measure of the sides are already given to you.  So we just add them to get the perimeter.

 

Perimeter = 8x + 10x + 6x

 

 

To simplify, we combine like terms.

 

Perimeter = 24x

Answer 2

Algebra is all about using variables instead of just numbers, like you've learned so far.

 

You know that 2+2=4      (well, let's hope so)

So, if x=2, then x+x = 2x = 4

 

But, what if x=5?

    5+5=10    (right?)

   But it is still 2x       (2 times x)

So, 8x and 10x and 6x all represent values that depend on the current value of x.

  If x=1, then the triangle has sides of length  8, 10, and 6

  If x=2, then the triangle has sides of length 16, 20, and 12

  What are the lengths of the sides when x=5 ???

 

The perimeter is just the total area around the triangle.  That is, the sum of the lengths of the 3 sides.

   P = 8x + 10x + 6x        and since each term shares an x, we can use the distributive property and write

   P = (8 + 10 + 6)x                [note: be sure to learn these properties]

   P = 24x

 

Now, if x=3, what is the perimeter P?    P=72

In algebra, it will o.k. to say that our answer is 24x so that it can be used for any value of x that is allowed.