When an altitude is drawn to the hypotenuse of a right triangle, the lengths of the segments of the hypotenuse are 9 and 36. What is the length of the altitude?
A) 3
B) 6
C) 18
D) 45
First of all, I dont know what an altitude is and also I dont know how to solve this
A) 3
B) 6
C) 18
D) 45
First of all, I dont know what an altitude is and also I dont know how to solve this
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This a picture of an altitude for a right triangle.
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/ho…
If you look closely you will see that it creates three proportional right triangles. You can then use these proportions with the given information to find the missing sides.
Given according to the linked picture.
x = 9
y = 36
---proportion---
x of triangle ADC is proportional to h of triangle CDB
9/h = h/36
324 = h²
√(324) = h
18 = h
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/ho…
If you look closely you will see that it creates three proportional right triangles. You can then use these proportions with the given information to find the missing sides.
Given according to the linked picture.
x = 9
y = 36
---proportion---
x of triangle ADC is proportional to h of triangle CDB
9/h = h/36
324 = h²
√(324) = h
18 = h
-
using similar triangle ---> h^2 = 9(36) ---> h = 18