Now find the geometricmeanof and to identifythe lengthof the altitude.The altitudeof the trianglewill measure inches.Leg as GeometricMean
Just as we usedsimilartrianglesto createa proportionusingthe altitude,the lengthsof the legs in right tri-
anglescan also be foundwith a geometricmeanwith respectto the hypotenuse.The lengthof one leg in
a right triangleis the geometricmeanof the adjacentsegmentand the entirehypotenuse.The diagrambelow
showsthe relationships.
You can use this relationshipto find the lengthof the leg if you knowthe lengthof the two segmentsof the
dividedhypotenuse.
Example 5
Whatis the lengthof in the trianglebelow?