The formula below can be used to work out the area of any triangle? What is the area of a triangle with sides of 5, 7 and 8?
Give your answer to 2 decimal places.
area of a triangle = √s (s - a) (s - b) (s - c)
where a, b and c are the lengths of the sides
and s = a + b + c/2
First, we need to find the semiperimeter (s) of the triangle:
s = (5 + 7 + 8) / 2
s = 20 / 2
s = 10
Now we can plug the values into the area formula:
area = √10 (10 - 5) (10 - 7) (10 - 8)
area = √10 (5) (3) (2)
area = √300
area = 17.32
Therefore, the area of a triangle with sides of 5, 7, and 8 is 17.32 square units.