SOLUTION: The height of a triangle is 2 millimeters less than the base. If the area is 60 square millimeters, find the base.

Question 33680: The height of a triangle is 2 millimeters less than the base. If the area is 60 square millimeters, find the base.
Answer by Earlsdon(6294) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Start with the formula for the area of a triangle:
Where: A = 60, h = b-2
Simplify and solve for b.
Multiply both sides by 2.
Subtract 120 from both sides of the equation.
Solve this quadratic for b by factoring.
Apply the zero products principle.
and/or
If then Discard this solution as b can only be a positive value.
If then This solution is acceptable.
The length of the base is 12 mm.
The height would be 10 mm
Check:

sq.mm.
RELATED QUESTIONS
The height of a triangle is 2 millimeter less than the base. If the area is 60 square... (answered by nerdybill,jojo14344)

Find the surface area of the regular pyramid. A triangular pyramid. The base triangle... (answered by ikleyn)

Right triangle ABC with legs AB= 9 millimeters and BC= 12 millimeters is the base of a... (answered by alicealc)

The volume od an octagonal prism is 486 cubic millimeters. If the area of the base is 54... (answered by elima)

A parallelogram has an area of 16.38 square millimeters and a height of 4.2 millimeters.... (answered by ikleyn)

The base of a triangle is 2 inches less than its height. If the area of the triangle is... (answered by Alan3354)

The height if a parallelogram is 5 times its base. If the area of the parallelogram is... (answered by stanbon)

A right triangle has an area of 60 square millimeters. One leg has a length of 6... (answered by rfer)

The base of a triangle is 14 inches more than 4 times the height. If the area is 60... (answered by josgarithmetic,MathTherapy)