First, if the altitude drawn to the hypotenuse of a right triangle divides the hypotenuse into two segments with lengths of 9 inches and 17 inches, what is the exact length of the altitude?
A right triangle base in your question, its hypotenuse is divided in to two line segment by a line of altitude and those segment are measured as 9 inches and 17 inches, so base on my calculation the exact length of the altitude is 3*sqrt(17)