Back in October, the C programming Exercise<\/a> was to code Heron’s Formula. The challenge required the user to input three values, one for each side of the triangle. But, as I learned since, a triangle must have specific side length ratios for it to be a valid triangle. Anyhoo, it turns out that for a triangle to be a triangle the length of the longest side must be less than the combined lengths of the other two sides. Further (!) I learned that this rule doesn’t apply to an isosceles triangle or an equilateral triangle, both of which are valid ways to stick three lines together.<\/p>\n (I might also add that the longest side of a triangle is called the hypotenuse only when dealing with a right triangle.)<\/p>\n The challenge for this month’s Exercise is to write code that generates three random numbers in the range of 2 to 25. Examine each of these values to determine whether they could be the lengths of the sides of a valid triangle. Test for an equilateral triangle. Test for an isosceles triangle. Test for an otherwise valid triangle and note the longest side. Test for an invalid triangle.<\/p>\n Fortunately, you don’t need to test whether the triangle is acute, obtuse, or right — though I’d be duly impressed if you take the challenge that far.<\/p>\n Here is output from a few sample runs of my solution:<\/p>\n Please try this exercise on your own before you peek at my solution<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Triangles have rules, you know. Continue reading
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\nCall me math-challenged.<\/p>\n14 - 7 - 7 is an isosceles triangle\r\n\r\n17 - 3 - 16 is a valid triangle\r\n17 is the longest side\r\n\r\n2 - 10 - 22 is not a valid triangle<\/pre>\n