Herons formula Another Area Formula....

Introduction

We know that if the triangle is a

( It will be applied in the following cases to find the area )

AREA OF TRIANGLE : 1/2*base*height.

right angled, we can directly apply the formula by using two sides containing the right angle as base and height .

Introduction (Contd.)
If a triangle PQR is equilateral, we
need to find its height when we know its sides .To get the height we take the mid point of PR as M and join it to P. Now PMQ is a right angle triangle. Now we can find the length of Pm by using the Pythagoras Theorm. Now we can directly apply the formula by using the two sides containing the right angle as base and height.

Introduction (contd.)
If a triangle XYZ is isosceles. XY and
XZ are of same length. To get the height of the triangle we take the midpoint of XZ as P and join it with X. Then by using the Pythagoras Theorm we get the height. Now we can directly apply the formula by using the two sides containing the right angle as base and height.

Introduction (Contd.) An another formula

3 cases were stated above. There
were 3 types of triangles-right angled, equilateral triangle and isosceles triangle. But what will we do if there is a scalene triangle of which we know the length but not the height....There is a formula to find the area of this triangle. It is known as the herons formula......

Who is heron ?
Heron was born in about

10AD possibly in Alexandria in Egypt. He worked in applied mathematics. He was a encyclopedic writer in mathematical and physical subjects. He proved herons formula in book 1 of the Metrica, a work that outlines methods of measurement.

Interesting to note
Although heron has his name on the
formula other sources suggest that Archimedes may have actually developed herons formula, not Heron. It tells us that if there is somebodys name is also the name of the discovery it doesn't mean that they have discovered the discovery For instance, It is known that the Chinese had known about the Pascals triangle for 300 years before Pascal.

What is Herons formula ?

Herons Formula : A method for
calculating the area of a triangle when you know the lengths of all three sides. It is also known as Heros formula. Let a, b, c be the sides of triangle The area is given by : A=s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c) Where s is the semi perimetre, or a+b+c/2

Use of Herons formula

Application of Herons formula in
finding areas of quadrilateralsHerons formula is used to calculate the area of the quadrilaterals. Quadrilaterals are broken into triangles and then they are calculated with help of Herons formula. Herons formula can be used to measure many things like kites, umbrella, aeroplane etc.

Summary
In this PowerPoint presentation
Area of a triangle with its side as a, b
and c is calculated by using herons formula, stated as Area of triangle=s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c) where s=a+b+c/2

we have studied the following points :

Summary (Contd.)
Area of a quadrilateral whose sides
and one diagonal are given, can be calculated by dividing the quadrilateral into two triangles and using the Herons formula.