The area triangle (oppervlakte driehoek) is one of the most important calculations you can make in geometry. After all, the triangle is one of the most basic shapes, and its properties can be applied to more complex figures. In this blog post, we’ll run through four different formulas for calculating the area of a triangle. Whether you’re a math student or just looking to brush up on your geometry skills, read on to learn more!
Luckily, there are three different formulas you can use to calculate the area of a triangle, depending on what information you have. In this blog post, we’ll run through each formula and show you when to use it. Let’s get started!
The first and most basic formula for calculating the area of a triangle is also the one you’ll use most often. To use this formula, all you need is the base and height of the triangle. The base is simply any one of the sides. The height is perpendicular to the base, and is usually denoted by h.
Once you have these two pieces of information, simply multiply them together to get the area. The equation looks like this:
When using this equation, it doesn’t matter which side you choose as your base—as long as the height is perpendicular to it, you’ll get an accurate result.
This second formula for calculating the area of a triangle is exactly the same as the first one, with one small exception. Instead of multiplying the base and height together, you first multiply them together and then divide that number by two. So why bother with this extra step?
Well, sometimes it’s easier to calculate ½ (b x h) than it is to calculate b x h. And since both equations will give you the same answer in the end, it doesn’t really matter which one you use.
This final formula for calculating the area of a triangle uses something called Sine Law. Sine Law states that in any given triangle, the ratio of any side length to its corresponding sine value is constant no matter what size that triangle might be. In other words, if you know two side lengths and either their corresponding angle or sine value, you can solve for any missing piece of information using Sine Law. We won’t go into all the details here, but suffice it to say that this formula can come in handy when trying to calculate the area of a more complex triangle.
The last formula we’ll look at is called The Area by Angle Bisector Method. This method can be used if you have two angles and one side length, or if you know two side lengths and their included angle. The angle bisector is a line that divides an angle into two equal parts. To find the area using this method, you take the product of half of the sum of two sides times the length of the angle bisector between those two sides. This might sound confusing, but it will make more sense with an example. Let’s say we have a triangle with sides 6, 8, and 10.
As long as you know at least two side lengths or one side length and either its corresponding angle or sine value, you can use one of these formulas to calculate the area of even complex triangles with ease!
