Geometry · Foundation · 7 min

The area of a triangle

Two copies of a triangle can fill a parallelogram. That is where the one-half comes from.

WHAT HAPPENS IF…Slide the top vertex far to the right. Does the area change?
Interactive exploration
h = 4b = 3Each triangle is half of the parallelogram.
Triangle area6
Parallelogram area12

Connect the picture to the ideaA=12bhA=\frac12 bh

A parallelogram with horizontal base b and perpendicular height h has area bh. A diagonal splits it into two equal-area triangles. Sliding the top vertex sideways preserves both base and height.

A detail that matters

The slanted side is generally not the height.

Keep the connection going

One idea leads to another.

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