SOLUTION: I need help solving this problem. Great white sharks have triangular teeth with a height that is 1 centimeter longer than the base. If the area of one tooth is 15 square centi

Question 15911: I need help solving this problem.
Great white sharks have triangular teeth with a height that is 1 centimeter
longer than the base. If the area of one tooth is 15 square centimeters, find
its base and height. Remember that the area of a triangle is one-half its base
times its height.

Answer by pwac(253) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let x=base so area of triangle in this instance is

multipy both sides by 2
subtract 30 from both sides to get Quadratic
which factors to
(x-5)(x+6)=0
x-5=0
x=5
x+6=0
x=-6
so obviously your answer is x=5 centimeters(length of base)
Pete
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