## How to Calculate the Area of a Triangle Part 2

We continue our discussion on how to find the area of a triangle. In the previous post, we have learned where the formula for the area of a triangle came from. We have studied that a triangle with area $A$, base $b$ and height $h$ is

$A = \displaystyle \frac{bh}{2}$

We continue our discussion with the third example in this series.

Example 3

What is the base of a height 7 and area 8.75 square centimeters?

Solution

$A = \displaystyle \frac{bh}{2}$

$8.75 = \displaystyle \frac{b(7)}{2}$

Multiplying both sides by 2, we have  » Read more

## How to Calculate the Area of a Triangle

We have learned about the areas of squares, rectangles, circle, parallelogram, and trapezoid. There is one important shape we haven’t discuss: the area of a triangle.

The area of a triangle is  half the product of its base and height. But did you know where did the formula come from? Let us discuss it in this post.

The area of a triangle is related to the area of other shapes, but we are going to relate it to the area of a parallelogram.

Consider the triangle above with base $b$ and height $h$. If we are going to create another triangle congruent to it (congruent means the same size and shape), then we can form a quadrilateral by coinciding their  two corresponding sides. What is interesting is that every time we do this, we create a parallelogram.  » Read more