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How to Find the Area of an Isosceles
Triangle 29 votes - 59%
Co-authors: 19
Updated: March 29,
Click a star to vote 2019
Co-authored by wikiHow Staff
Views: 471,755
Updated: March 29, 2019

An isosceles triangle is a triangle with two sides of

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the same length. These two equal sides always join
at the same angle to the base (the third side), and Finding the Area from the Side Lengths
Using Trigonometry
meet directly above the midpoint of the base.[1] You
Article Summary
can test this yourself with a ruler and two pencils of
Questions & Answers
equal length: if you try to tilt the triangle to one
Related Articles
direction or the other, you cannot get the tips of the References
pencils to meet. These special properties of the
isosceles triangle allow you to calculate the area
from just a couple pieces of information.
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Method
1 Finding the Area from the Side Lengths

1 Review the area of a parallelogram. Squares and rectangles are parallelograms, as

is any four-sided shape with two sets of parallel sides. All parallelograms have a
simple area formula: area equals base multiplied by the height, or A = bh.[2] If you place
the parallelogram flat on a horizontal surface, the base is the length of the side it is
standing on. The height (as you would expect) is how high it is off the ground: the distance
from the base to the opposite side. Always measure the height at a right (90 degree) angle
to the base.
In squares and rectangles, the height is equal to the length of a vertical side, since
these sides are at a right angle to the ground.

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2 Compare triangles and parallelograms. There's a simple relationship between

these two shapes. Cut any parallelogram in half along the diagonal, and it splits into
two equal triangles. Similarly, if you have two identical triangles, you can always tape them
together to make a parallelogram. This means that the area of any triangle can be written
as A = ½bh, exactly half the size of a corresponding parallelogram.[3]

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of a Triangle of a Polygon

3 Find the isosceles triangle's base. Now you have the formula, but what exactly do
"base" and "height" mean in an isosceles triangle? The base is the easy part: just use
the third, unequal side of the isosceles.
For example, if your isosceles triangle has sides of 5 centimeters, 5 cm, and 6 cm,
use 6 cm as the base.
If your triangle has three equal sides (equilateral), you can pick any one to be the
base. An equilateral triangle is a special type of isosceles, but you can find its area
the same way.[4]

4 Draw a line between the base to the opposite vertex. Make sure the line hits the
base at a right angle. The length of this line is the height of your triangle, so label it h.
Once you calculate the value of h, you'll be able to find the area.
In an isosceles triangle, this line will always hit the base at its exact midpoint.[5]

5 Look at one half of your isosceles triangle. Notice that the height line divided your
isosceles triangle into two identical right triangles. Look at one of them and identify
the three sides:

One of the short sides is equal to half the base: .

The other short side is the height, h.

The hypotenuse of the right triangle is one of the two equal sides of the isosceles.
Let's call it s.

6 Set up the Pythagorean Theorem. Any time you know two sides of a right triangle
and want to find the third, you can use the Pythagorean theorem:[6] (side 1)2 + (side
2)2 = (hypotenuse)2 Substitute the variables we're using for this problem to get

You probably learned the Pythagorean Theorem as . Writing it as

"sides" and "hypotenuse" prevents confusion with your triangle's variables.

7 Solve for h. Remember, the area formula uses b and h, but you don't know the value
of h yet. Rearrange the formula to solve for h:

8 Plug in the values for your triangle to find h. Now that you know this formula, you
can use it for any isosceles triangle where you know the sides. Just plug in the length
of the base for b and the length of one of the equal sides for s, then calculate the value of
h.
For example, you have an isosceles triangle with sides 5 cm, 5 cm, and 6 cm. b =
6 and s = 5.
Substitute these into your formula:

cm.

9 Plug the base and height into your area formula. Now you have what you need to
use the formula from the start of this section: Area = ½bh. Just plug the values you
found for b and h into this formula and calculate the answer. Remember to write your
answer in terms of square units.
To continue the example, the 5-5-6 triangle had a base of 6 cm and a height of 4
cm.
A = ½bh
A = ½(6cm)(4cm)
A = 12cm2.

10 Try a more difficult example. Most isosceles triangles are more difficult to work
with than the last example. The height often contains a square root that doesn't
simplify to an integer. If this happens, leave the height as a square root in simplest form.
Here's an example:
What is the area of a triangle with sides 8 cm, 8 cm, and 4 cm?
Let the unequal side, 4 cm, be the base b.

The height

Simplify the square root by finding factors:

Area

Leave this answer as written, or enter it in a calculator to find a decimal estimate

(about 15.49 square centimeters).

1 Start with a side and an angle. If you know some trigonometry, you can find the area
of an isosceles triangle even if you don't know the length of one of its side. Here's an
example problem where you only know the following:[7]
The length s of the two equal sides is 10 cm.
The angle θ between the two equal sides is 120 degrees.

2 Divide the isosceles into two right triangles. Draw a line down from the vertex
between the two equal sides, that hits the base at a right angle. You now have two
equal right triangles.
This line divides θ perfectly in half. Each right triangle has an angle of ½θ, or in this
case (½)(120) = 60 degrees.

3 Use trigonometry to find the value of h. Now that you have a right triangle, you can
use the trigonometric functions sine, cosine, and tangent. In the example problem,
you know the hypotenuse, and you want to find the value of h, the side adjacent to the
known angle. Use the fact that cosine = adjacent / hypotenuse to solve for h:
cos(θ/2) = h / s
cos(60º) = h / 10
h = 10cos(60º)

4 Find the value of the remaining side. There is one remaining unknown side of the
right triangle, which you can call x. Solve for this using the definition sine = opposite /
hypotenuse:
sin(θ/2) = x / s
sin(60º) = x / 10
x = 10sin(60º)

5 Relate x to the base of the isosceles triangle. You can now "zoom out" to the main
isosceles triangle. Its total base b is equal to 2x, since it was divided into two
segments each with a length of x.

6 Plug your values for h and b into the basic area formula. Now that you know the
base and height, you can rely on the standard formula A = ½bh:

You can enter this into a calculator (set to degrees), which gives you an answer of
about 43.3 square centimeters. Alternatively, use properties of trigonometry to
simplify it to A = 50sin(120º).

7 Turn this into a universal formula. Now that you know how this is solved, you can
rely on the general formula without going through the full process every time. Here's
what you end up with if you repeat this process without using any specific values (and
simplifying using properties of trigonometry):[8]

s is the length of one of the two equal sides.

θ is the angle between the two equal sides.

Community Q&A

Question

How can I find the side of an isosceles triangle when only the area and the length of
equal sides are given?

Community Answer

A=area, L=length of 1 equal side, b=base, θ=HALF of angle between 2 equal sides. Split the
triangle in half down the middle. The middle line is h, the height. Analyze the left triangle,
where L is the hypotenuse and the smallest angle is θ. The smallest side is b/2, and the last
side is h. sinθ = (b/2) / L --> b/2 = Lsinθ. cosθ = h/L --> h = Lcosθ. A = (1/2)bh = (b/2)h =
(Lsinθ)(Lcosθ)=(L^2)sinθcosθ. sin(2θ) = 2sinθcosθ (by trig identities) --> sinθcosθ =
(1/2)sin(2θ). --> A = (L^2)sinθcosθ = (1/2)(L^2)sin(2θ). Because A and L are known, the
above equation can be used to find sin(2θ). Arcsin of sin(2θ) gives 2θ, allowing you to find θ.
Then, you can find b from the equation: b/2 = Lsinθ.
Helpful 10 Not Helpful 6

Question

How can I show that a triangle is isoceles?

Community Answer

Coordinate proof: Given the coordinates of the triangle's vertices, to prove that a triangle is
isosceles plot the 3 points (optional). Use the distance formula to calculate the side length of
each side of the triangle. If any two sides have equal side lengths, then the triangle is
isosceles.
Helpful 25 Not Helpful 11

Question

How do I find the base of a triangle if there is no height and no area?

Community Answer

You don't. You must be given certain information: perimeter, other sides, area, or height.
Helpful 20 Not Helpful 10

Question

What will be the area of an isosceles triangle with a perimeter of 42m and a base of 20m?

Community Answer

Let each of the two equal sides of the triangle be x meters.Then, the perimeter is 2x + 20 =
42. So x = 11. The area of the triangle is then 1/2*20*root(11^2 - 10^2) = 10root(21)
Helpful 19 Not Helpful 15

Question

How do I find the area of an Isosceles triangle whose one side is 10 cm greater than its
two other equal sides, with a perimeter of 100 cm?

Community Answer

Use the perimeter to find the sides of the triangle (3x + 10 = 100). Then use half the largest
side and one of the equal sides to find the height through the Pythagorean Theorem. Finally,
use the newly found height and the largest side of the triangle as its base in the formula to
find a triangle's area.
Helpful 20 Not Helpful 15

Question

How do I find the area of an isosceles triangle when given two sides?

Community Answer

If you are told the length of the base (unequal side), then you know the other two sides are
equal, so you know all three side lengths and can use the standard method. If you only know
the lengths of the two equal sides, then you cannot find the area without more information
(such as the perimeter or an angle).
Helpful 16 Not Helpful 13

Question

How do I find the area of an isosceles triangle if the base is 10 cm and height is 8 cm?

Community Answer

The area of a triangle is the base times height divided by two (bh/2). Just plug in the
numbers: (10)(8)/2 = 80/2 = 40. The area of your triangle is 40 cm².
Helpful 15 Not Helpful 14

Question

How do I find the area and perimeter of an isosceles right angled triangle?

Community Answer

In an isosceles right triangle, the two equal sides have a right angle between them. This
means you can use one equal side as the base, and the other as the height. If these sides
have length s, then the area is (1/2)s^2. To find the perimeter, use the Pythagorean theorem
to find the length of the hypotenuse, and add it to the lengths of the other sides.
Helpful 7 Not Helpful 6

Question

The base of an isosceles triangle is 5cm and the length of each equal side is denoted by
s. Ho do I express the perimeter of this triangle in terms of s?

Community Answer

The perimeter is equal to the sum of all side lengths. Since there are two sides with length s,
the perimeter of this triangle is 5 + s + s, which simplifies to 2s + 5 cm.
Helpful 6 Not Helpful 10

Question

If a triangle has equal 60 degree angles, what is the value of angle A?

Onebluethinker
Community Answer

Since the angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees, you can find the answer by adding the
two known angles (60 and 60) and subtracting that total from 180. In this case, 60 plus 60
equals 120, and 180 minus 120 equals 60, so the third angle is also 60 degrees.
Helpful 3 Not Helpful 9

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Tips

If you have an isosceles right triangle (two equal sides and a 90 degree angle), it is much
easier to find the area. If you use one of the short sides as the base, the other short side is
the height.[9] Now the formula A = ½ b * h simplifies to ½s2, where s is the length of a short
side.

Square roots have two solutions, one positive and one negative, but you can ignore the
negative one in geometry. You cannot have a triangle with "negative height," for example.

Some trigonometry problems might give you other starting information, such as the base
length and one angle (and the fact that the triangle is isosceles). The basic strategy is the
same: divide the isosceles into right triangles and solve for the height using trigonometric
functions.

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References

1. ↑ https://www.mathsisfun.com/definitions/isosceles-triangle.html
2. ↑ http://www.mathgoodies.com/lessons/vol1/area_triangle.html
3. ↑
https://www.wyzant.com/resources/lessons/math/geometry/areas/parallelograms_and_trian
gles
4. ↑ http://mathworld.wolfram.com/IsoscelesTriangle.html
5. ↑
http://web.sonoma.edu/users/w/wilsonst/courses/math_150/theorems/isosceles/default.htm
l
6. ↑ https://www.mathsisfun.com/pythagoras.html
7. ↑ http://mathworld.wolfram.com/IsoscelesTriangle.html
8. ↑ http://mathworld.wolfram.com/IsoscelesTriangle.html
9. ↑ http://mathworld.wolfram.com/IsoscelesRightTriangle.html

Article Info

This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated
it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. Together, they cited information from 9
references.

Categories: Calculating Volume and Area

In other languages:

Português: Descobrir a Área de um Triângulo Isósceles, Español: encontrar el área de un

triángulo isósceles, Русский: найти площадь равнобедренного
треугольника, Italiano: Trovare l'Area di un Triangolo Isoscele, Deutsch: Die Fläche eines
gleichschenkligen Dreiecks bestimmen, Français: déterminer la surface d'un triangle
isocèle, Nederlands: De oppervlakte van een gelijkbenige driehoek berekenen, Tiếng Việt: Tính
diện tích tam giác cân, ไทย: หาพืนทีของสามเหลียมหน ้าจัว, ‫ ﺣﺳﺎب ﻣﺳﺎﺣﺔ اﻟﻣﺛﻠث ﻣﺗﺳﺎوي اﻟﺳﺎﻗﯾن‬:‫اﻟﻌرﺑﯾﺔ‬, 中
文: 计算等腰三角形的面积, 日本語: 二等辺三角形の面積を求める

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