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algebra senior
Problem
For how many integral values of can a triangle of positive area be formed having side lengths ?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Solution
For these lengths to form a triangle of positive area, the Triangle Inequality tells us that we need The second inequality is redundant, as it's always less restrictive than the last inequality. Let's raise the first inequality to the power of . This gives . Thus, . Doing the same for the third inequality gives (where we are allowed to divide both sides by since must be positive in order for the logarithms given in the problem statement to even have real values). Combining our results, is an integer strictly between and , so the number of possible values of is .
Final answer
B