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When finding the area of a triangle, does it matter where the altitude is located?

User Tharabas
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Answer:

When you need to find the altitude of a triangle, you should consider the concept of altitude

Altitude = The shortest distance from a vertex to its opposite side.

Therefore, the triangle will have three different heights (one from each side of the triangle). When using the formula for the area of a triangle:


Area = (baseXheight)/(2)

It does not really matter what height you use. However, the only way to know what is the right altitude to use is with trigonometry.

When finding the area of a triangle, does it matter where the altitude is located-example-1
User Srparish
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