How to Easily Find the Area of a Triangle

Use the right formula to find the area of your triangle.

A triangle is among the simplest two-dimensional shapes in geometry. All triangles have certain basic properties: They contain three sides and three angles, and the sum of the angles always equals 180 degrees. Triangles may be classified as equilateral (all sides are the same length); isosceles (two sides are congruent); or scalene, with no equal sides. To find the area of any triangle, you simply need to know some basic dimensions and plug them into a formula.

Things You'll Need

• Calculator

Instructions

1. Write down the triangle area formula -- A = 1/2 * b * h -- on a piece of paper. "A" stands for area, "b" for the base length and "h" for height. The height is the perpendicular distance from the apex, or top of the triangle, to the base.

2. Use the information in a given math problem to find the area of a triangle. For example, suppose that the base is 10 inches and the height is 7 inches.

3. Plug the numbers into the formula: A = 1/2 * 10 *7.

4. Do the multiplication: 1/2 x 10 = 5, and 5 x 7 = 35. Concluding the example, the area of the triangle would be 35 square inches.

References

• Math Is Fun: Triangles