Isos Triangle with sides 10,10, and 8. Find length of altitude to a long side.
So there's an altitude going from the vertex adjacent to the side 8cm long to a side measuring 90 degrees.
The altitude creates 2 right triangles within and so they share one side.
Here's a image I drew up in paint to help show the problem.
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/2083/isos.png
I'm trying to figure out what "y" is but I figure I'd need "x" to do it. I set up 2 equations using Pythagoras theorem.
10^2=(10-x)^2+Y^2 and 8^2=Y^2+X^2.
Solving it left me with -64=20x. It being a negative probably means I'm wrong. I've checked it over and didn't find mistakes so maybe I'm just approaching it wrong.