To solve the problem step by step, let's define the height of the triangle as \( h \) and the base \( b \).
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An expression for the base of the triangle:
The problem states that the base is four less than three times the height. This can be expressed as:
\[ b = 3h - 4 \] -
Equation for the area of the triangle, substituting in for the base:
The area \( A \) of the triangle is given by the formula:
\[ A = \frac{b \times h}{2} \] Substituting the expression for the base \( b \) into the area formula, we have:
\[ 38 = \frac{(3h - 4) \times h}{2} \] To simplify this, we can multiply both sides by 2 to eliminate the fraction:
\[ 76 = (3h - 4) \times h \] -
The first step in solving for \( h \):
The equation from the previous step can be rearranged:
\[ 76 = 3h^2 - 4h \] Moving everything to one side to set the equation to zero gives:
\[ 3h^2 - 4h - 76 = 0 \]
This is a quadratic equation in standard form, which is the first step in solving for \( h \).
Now you can use the quadratic formula or factoring (if it's factorable) to solve for \( h \).