Triangle has a right angle at . Point is the foot of the altitude from , , and . What is the area of ?
Pick one
Solution
It is a well-known fact that in any right triangle with the right angle at and the foot of the altitude from onto we have . (See below for a proof.) Then , and the area of the triangle is .
Proof: Consider the Pythagorean theorem for each of the triangles , , and . We get:
.
Substituting equations 2 and 3 into the left hand side of equation 1, we get .
Alternatively, note that .
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