What is the definition for the word altitude in math?

Answer 1

Altitude is the math term that most people call height. The altitude is always perpendicular to base. The altitude of a triangle is the distance from one side (or an extension of that side) to the opposite vertex. The altitude of a parallelogram or trapezoid is the distance from one side (or an extension of that side) to the opposite side. Since the altitude must be perpendicular to the base, it is the term used for figures which do not have a right angle. Right triangles, squares, and rectangles, which have a right angle, do not require an altitude because the height is one of the sides of the figure.