How do you use Heron's formula to determine the area of a triangle with sides of that are 14, 8, and 13 units in length?

1 Answer
Feb 5, 2016

Area ≈ 51.17

Explanation:

Calculating the area is a 2 step process.

step 1 : calculate ( half of the perimeter of the triangle = s )

step 2 : calculate the area using # A = sqrt(s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c))#

let a = 14 , b= 8 and c = 13

step 1 : # s = (a+b+c)/2 = (14+8+13)/2 = 35/2 = 17.5 #

step 2 : #A = sqrt(17.5(17.5-14)(17.5-8)(17.5-13)#

# = sqrt(17.5 xx 3.5 xx 9.5 xx 4.5) ≈ 51.17 color(black)(" square units ")#