SOLUTION: please help me solve: the side length of an equilateral triangles is five inches. find the length of the altitude of the triangle.

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Question 957772: please help me solve: the side length of an equilateral triangles is five inches. find the length of the altitude of the triangle.
Answer by macston(5194) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The altitude goes from the midpoint of one side to the opposite vertex and forms a right triangle with one side as hypotenuse and one half of one side as a leg.
Let a=length of a side; h=height(altitude)
h=sqrt%28a%5E2-%28%281%2F2%29a%29%5E2%29
h=sqrt%285%5E2-2.5%5E2%29
h=4.33in