Triangle Altitude Illustrator and Definition Writing Prompt
Interact with the applet for a few minutes.
The purple segment that will appear is said to be an ALTITUDE OF A TRIANGLE.
Be sure to move the blue vertex of the triangle around a bit as well.
Answer the questions that appear below the applet.
1.
Is it ever possible for a triangle's altitude to lie inside the triangle?
2.
Is it ever possible for a triangle's altitude to lie ON the triangle itself? That is, can an altitude of a triangle ever be the same as ONE SIDE of the triangle? If so, in what kind of a triangle will this occur?
3.
Is it ever possible for a triangle's altitude to lie entirely OUTSIDE the triangle?
4.
Given your responses to these question and what you've observed, complete the following sentence definition (without looking it up on another tab in your browser): An altitude of a triangle is...