How to Calculate the Area of a Triangle

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By kaytay
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Calculate the Area of a Triangle

Triangles are polygons with three line segments, or sides, and have three corners or vertices. Triangles can be easily classified by the lengths of their sides, as well as by their relative angles. With an equilateral triangle, all sides and angles are equal, whereas with an isosceles triangle, only two of the sides and angles are equal. Last, a triangle with all three sides and angles of different measurements is called a scalene triangle. Now that you know the basics of triangles, you can learn to easily calculate the Area of any triangle.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

The method used to calculate the Area of any triangle is to multiply ½ the b times the h, where b is length of base and h is height. The equation is:

A = ½ BH
Step 2

If a triangle has a base length of 6 inches and a height of 4 inches, you can determine the total Area of that triangle by inputting those numbers into the equation.

A = 1/2 BH
A = 1/2 6in * 4in
A = 1/2 (24)
A = 12 square inches
Step 3

You can also calculate either the base or height of a triangle when you know the total Area and either the Base or the Height. For example, let's say you have a triangle with the following dimensions:

The Area of the triangle is 12 square inches.
The Base of the triangle is 6 inches.
What is the Height of the triangle?

All you need to do is rearrange the original equation to calculate the Height.

So, if the original equation was A = 1/2 BH, to calculate the Height, we need to divide both sides of the equation by 1/2Base.

The new equation would be:
H = A / 1/2B
H = 12 / 1/2(6)
H = 12 / 3
H = 4