Problema Solution

A sailboat has a triangular sail with an area of 30 square feet. The height of the sail is 7 feet more than the length of the base of the sail. Find the height of the sail.

Answer provided by our tutors

Area, A, of this sail is 


 


where a is a base and h is height of the sail. 


Since height is 7 feet more than the base it comes to 


 

 , multiply to get rid of parentheses 

 , multiply both sides by 2 

 , subtract 60 from both sides 

 , this is quadratic equation 

 

We get a=5 or a=-12 and only acceptable solution is a=5 feet. 

Height of the seal is 

h=a+7

h=5+7

h=12 feet