Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometry, geographical survey, sport, or atmospheric pressure). Although the term altitude is commonly used to mean the height above sea level of a location, in geography the term elevation is often preferred for this usage.
In geometry, an altitude of a triangle is a line segment through a given vertex (called apex) and perpendicular to a line containing the side or edge opposite the apex. This (finite) edge and (infinite) line extension are called, respectively, the base and extended base of the altitude.
Azimuth is measured eastward from the north point (sometimes from the south point) of the horizon; altitude is the angle above the horizon. The horizontal coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system that uses the observer's local horizon as the fundamental plane to define two angles of a spherical coordinate system: altitude and azimuth.
An altitude of a triangle is a straight line through a vertex and perpendicular to the opposite side. This opposite side is called the base of the altitude, and the point where the altitude intersects the base (or its extension) is called the foot of the altitude. [23] The length of the altitude is the distance between the base and the vertex.
Geopotential height or geopotential altitude is a vertical coordinate referenced to Earth's mean sea level (assumed zero geopotential) that represents the work involved in lifting one unit of mass over one unit of length through a hypothetical space in which the acceleration of gravity is assumed constant. [1]
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) offers similar definitions: [2] altitude: "the vertical distance of a level, a point or an object considered as a point, measured from the mean sea level (MSL);" [2] height: "the vertical distance of a level, a point or an object considered as a point, measured from a specific datum." [2]
In Euclidean geometry, the right triangle altitude theorem or geometric mean theorem is a relation between the altitude on the hypotenuse in a right triangle and the two line segments it creates on the hypotenuse. It states that the geometric mean of those two segments equals the altitude.
Height is also used as a name for some more abstract definitions. These include: The height or altitude of a triangle, which is the length from a vertex of a triangle to the line formed by the opposite side; The height of a pyramid, which is the smallest distance from the apex to the base;