2.21 Special Relationships within Right Triangles
An altitude of a triangle is a perpendicular line segment from a vertex to the line determined by the opposite side. In △BCD below, segment BE is the altitude from vertex B to the line containing DC.
How many triangles do you see?
Identify the triangles by name. For example, one triangle is BCD.
Is △BCD ~ △BEC? If so, name the rule.
Is △BCD ~ △BED? If so, name the rule.
Is △BEC ~ △BED? How do we know this to be true?