Math Is Fun Forum

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Herons' Formula

Just finished a page on Heron's Formula (Area of a triangle from its sides). What do you think about it?

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"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

Ninja 101

Member

Registered: 2006-02-20

Posts: 936

Re: Herons' Formula

Hmm. that is very interesting and it may help me in my GCSEs in about a year's time.

Last edited by Ninja 101 (2006-06-08 23:00:11)

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Chaos is found in greatest abundance wherever order is being saught. It always defeats order, because it is better organized.

Jai Ganesh

Administrator

Registered: 2005-06-28

Posts: 48,413

Re: Herons' Formula

The page is very good.
The special case of
(i) an equilateral triangle and the simplified formula for area of such triangles and
(ii) isosceles right angled triangle may be added.

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It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics, one should study the masters and not the pupils. - Niels Henrik Abel.

Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge - Stephen William Hawking.

John E. Franklin

Member

Registered: 2005-08-29

Posts: 3,588

Re: Herons' Formula

I expanded the equation for area by eliminating the s and just using a, b, and c, however, I must have made a mistake because when I enter the a=3, b=4, c=5 famous triangle for the sides, I don't get 1.5 like the original formula.
Infact, my square root goes negative inside, so a big boo-boo.
Here is my wrong equation:

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igloo myrtilles fourmis

Ninja 101

Member

Registered: 2006-02-20

Posts: 936

Re: Herons' Formula

I'm afraid you've lost me.

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Chaos is found in greatest abundance wherever order is being saught. It always defeats order, because it is better organized.

Devantè

Real Member

Registered: 2006-07-14

Posts: 6,400

Re: Herons' Formula

Nice page. It'll probably come in handy when I do an exam.