Herons Formula (1 Viewer)

loser101

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Find area of ANY triangle given the 3 sides

[SIZE=-0]<center>A = sqrt [ s * (s - a) * (s - b) * (s - c) ]
Where s = (1 / 2)(a + b + c)
.

Proof: Really quite lovely


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[/SIZE]
<dl><dd>
</dd></dl> by the law of cosines. From this we get the algebraic statement:
<dl><dd>
.</dd></dl> The altitude of the triangle on base a has length bsin(C), and it follows
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[SIZE=-0] [/SIZE]
 

wogblogger

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omg
this was the only formula i knew untill year 11
i failed all maths untill year 11 but i never forgot this formula
 
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Here's Wildberger's youtube on it. He uses rational trig.

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hooQuHLS-kk&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hooQuHLS-kk&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hooQuHLS-kk )
 
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