SOLUTION: The base of a triangle is 5 centimeters longer than it's altitude. If the area of the triangle is 42 square centimeters, what is it's altitude?

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Question 523402: The base of a triangle is 5 centimeters longer than it's altitude. If the area of the triangle is 42 square centimeters, what is it's altitude?
Answer by richard1234(7193) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Use "its" instead of "it's." "It's" stands for "it is."

Let a be the altitude. Then the base is a+5. We can write an equation for the area of the triangle:




We can solve this using the quadratic equation or by factoring, but in this case, the easiest way is to note that 84 can be factored as 7*12, so a = 7 cm.