Altitude
Definition
In geometry, an altitude of a figure is a cevian that is perpendicular to the side to which it extends.
Usually, one is concerned with the altitude (or height) of triangles. In particular, the altitudes of any triangle are concurrent at a point known as the orthocenter.
Usage
Altitudes are mainly used to finding area of a triangle. Furthermore, if one knows the area of a triangle and one side, the altitude to that side can be calculated. In addition to triangles, altitudes are also useful for finding the area of quadrilaterals with at least one pair of parallel sides (rectangles, parallelograms, trapezoids).
Because the altitude is perpendicular to a side, many right triangle tools like Pythagorean Theorem will be very useful.
See also
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