Thread: Median & Altitude

The legs of a right triangle are 6 and 8.
(a) what is the length of the median?
(b)What is the length of the Altitude?

Can anyone show me how to find the answer?

Well the median to the hypotenuse of a right triangle is always one-half the hypotenuse, which makes that easy. Use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the hypotenuse, so 6^2 + 8^2 = 100. Sqrt 100 is 10. Divide by two and you get five. As for the altitude, you can take the sin of either angle and multiply it by the length of the hypotenuse of the right triangle formed by the altitude. So find the sin of the angle between the leg with the measure if six and the hypotenuse. That would be 8/10. Then you multiply by six to get 24/5 or 4.8.