How do you calculate the area of an traingle?

Answer 1

Easy answer: half the base times the height.

If you want more, read on.

With most triangles, this is easy, but if you have an obtuse triangle you need to extend the base and find the height from that extension.

Once you have both figures, take half their product, and you have the area.

The formula to remember is A=½*b*h

If you know what one is, you can also use a matrix to find the area. Take the coordinates of the three vertices and use them as the first two coordinates and add a 1 at the end of each row to make a 3x3 matrix. Find the determinant of the matrix. Half this value is the positive area of the triangle.

for example: (0,0) (1,4) (3,5) would be the matrix:

0 0 1

1 4 1

3 5 1

Determinant is -7, so the area of the triangle is (7/2) ■