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Heron's Formula

Area of a Triangle from Sides

You can calculate the area of a triangle if you know the lengths of all three
sides, using a formula that has been known for nearly 2000 years.
It is called "Heron's Formula" after Hero of Alexandria (see below)

Just use this two step process:

Step 1: Calculate "s" (half of the triangles
perimeter):
Step 2: Then calculate the Area:

Example: What is the area of a triangle where every side is 5 long?

Step 1: s = (5+5+5)/2 = 7.5
Step 2: A = (7.5 2.5 2.5 2.5) = (117.1875) = 10.825...

Try it yourself:

Heron's Formula
Find a Triangle's Area from its Sides
53.1301
Classic Heron's Formula:
s = (a+b+c)/2 = 6
Area = ( s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c) )
Area = 6

a:

c:

Area is

6.000000
90

Variation with less rounding error:

Sides in Descending Order: 5,4,3
Area = ((a+(b+c))(c-(a-b))(c+(a-b))(a+(b-c)))/4
Area = 6

b:

36.8699

2015 MathsIsFun.com v0.6

Angles

Hero of Alexandria
The formula is credited to Hero (or

In the calculator above I also used the Law of Cosines to

calculate the angles (for a complete solution). The formula is:

Heron) of Alexandria, who was a

Greek Engineer and Mathematician
in 10 70 AD.

Amongst other things, he

developed the Aeolipile, the first

Where "C" is the angle opposite side "c".

known steam engine, but it was

treated as a toy!

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5

Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10

Area
Triangles
Geometry Index

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