Question 156797
    The height of a triangle is 2 millimeter less than the base. If the area is 60 square millimeters, find the base
.
Remember that the area of any triangle is:
area = (1/2)hb
where
h is height
b is base
.
If we
Let b = base
then
Your problem gives:
height = b-2
area = 60 sq mm
.
Plugging it all into:
area = (1/2)hb
60 = (1/2)(b-2)b
120 = (b-2)b
120 = b^2 - 2b
0 = b^2 - 2b - 120
.
factoring:
0 = (b-12)(b+10)
b = {12, -10}
we can throw out the negative solution since it doesn't make sense for a "measurement".
.
Therefore, 
base is 12 millimeters