Finding Polygon Areas

Date: 03/20/97 at 20:29:42
From: Nichole Worden
Subject: Area of Polygons

How the heck do I find the area of polygons?

Date: 03/21/97 at 05:09:56
From: Doctor Mitteldorf
Subject: Re: Area of Polygons

Dear Nichole,

It depends on the shape of the polygon.  What will always work is to 
divide the polygon into triangles, and then find the area of each 
triangle. 

Have you ever seen the formula for finding the area of a triangle if 
you know the lengths of the 3 sides: a, b, and c?  It's a neat 
formula, and it's interesting to figure out why it works.  
The formula is

    sqrt (s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c))

This is the square root of the product of four terms.  
s represents the "semiperimeter", or half the sum of a, b and c.

-Doctor Mitteldorf,  The Math Forum
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