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:

$\text{Area}_{triangle}=\frac{1}{2}\text{base}\cdot\text{height}$

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.