SOLUTION: an isosceles triangle with sides 5 and base 8, and I am being told to solve it like so: h^2+4^2=5^2 When I tried to solve it myself, I got h^2+16=25 The solution page gives

Question 375236: an isosceles triangle with sides 5 and base 8, and I am being told to solve it like so:
h^2+4^2=5^2
When I tried to solve it myself, I got h^2+16=25
The solution page gives me:
h^2=24-16=9
I don't understand what h^2 means, or where the 24 or 9 are coming from. Please help.
Answer by Fombitz(32388) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

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.
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is the height of the triangle.
Drop a bisector from the vertex of your isoceles triangle to form two right triangles.
You can then use the Pythagorean theorem to solve for since

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