Question

a student says that she knows that a parallelogram has two altitudes but when it is long and narrow like the one shown, she does not know how to construct the altitude to the shorter sides. how do you respond? select the correct answer below. a. construct a line segment between the midpoints of the shorter sides, then construct a line segment between the midpoints of the longer sides. the intersection of these line segments is the midpoint. any line segment from the midpoint of the parallelogram to any vertex is an altitude. b. extend the shorter sides, then construct a rectangle from this extension. the intersection of the diagonals is the midpoint. any line segment from the midpoint of the rectangle to the midpoint of the parallelogram is an altitude. c. extend the shorter side and construct the perpendicular line segment from a vertex not on the side, to the line containing the side. d. construct diagonals for the parallelogram. the intersection of the diagonals is the midpoint. any line segment from the midpoint of the parallelogram to the midpoint of any side is an altitude.

Explanation:

The altitude of a parallelogram is a perpendicular line - segment from a vertex not on a side to the line containing that side. To construct the altitude to the shorter sides of a parallelogram, we extend the shorter side and then construct the perpendicular line - segment from a vertex not on that side to the line containing the side.

Answer:

C. Extend the shorter side and construct the perpendicular line segment from a vertex not on the side, to the line containing the side.