Question

How are the formulas for the area of a rectangle and the area of a triangle related? How can they be used to determine the area of a composite, or nonstandard, shape?

Answer 1

EXPLANATION

The area of a rectangle is as follows:

`\text{Area}_{\text{rectangle}}=\text{base }\cdot\text{ height}`

The area of a triangle:

`\text{Area}_(triangle)=(1)/(2)\text{base}\cdot\text{height}`

So the Area of a triangle is a half the area of a rectangle:

We can decompose the irregular or nonstandard shape as the sum of multiply triangles.