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jmc

geometry senior

Problem

How many non-congruent triangles with only integer side lengths have a perimeter of 15 units?
Solution
In a triangle, the lengths of any two sides must add up to a value larger than the third length's side. This is known as the Triangle Inequality. Keeping this in mind, we list out cases based on the length of the shortest side.

Case 1: shortest side has length . Then the other two sides must have lengths and . This leads to the set .

Case 2: shortest side has length . Then the other two sides must have lengths and . This leads to the set .

Case 3: shortest side has length . Then the other two sides can have lengths and or and . This leads to the sets and .

Case 4: shortest side has length . Then the other two sides can have lengths and or and . This leads to the sets and .

Case 5: shortest side has length . Then the other two sides must have lengths and . This leads to the set .

Hence there are sets of non-congruent triangles with a perimeter of units.
Final answer
7