Thank you to both of you guys for answering my question. I'm going to
convert this in to HTML and post it on the web. I figure something like this
shouldn't be lost in the archives.
David Ferrin
Never purchase the first version of anything. This message brought to you by
Windows Vista. Smart Computing March 2007
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 10:24 PM
Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] calculating the area of a triangle
The formula for the area of a triangle is one-half times the base times the
height.
Your triangle has a base of 12 feet and two other sides each at 7 feet. The
height is unknown. Drop a line down from the point of the triangle to the
base. This divides the triangle into two equal halves which each are right
triangles. The formula for the sides of a right triangle are the Pythagorean
theorem that states A-squared plus B-squared equals C-squared where "C" is
the hypotneuse or the side opposite the right angle, and A and B are the
remaining two sides. In your case, you know C, the hypotneuse, is 7 and B,
the base is 6 or one-half of 12 (since you divided the triangle into two
parts). The formula then is reworked to read C-squared minus B-squared
equals A-squared. In numerals that is 7-squared or 49 minus 6-squared or 36.
The answer of 13 is A-squared and the square root of 13 is 3.6. that number
is the height of the right triangle.
So now to apply the area formula of one-half times base time height. The
base is 6, height is 3.6 which multiplied equals 21.6 and half of that is
10.8. Remember that you have two parts of the original triangle. The second
part has the same area as the first, or another 10.8. Putting the two
together gives you 21.6 square feet.
The method and formula also work when all sides of the triangle are unequal.
Say that you triangle has a 12 foot base and was 7 feet on one side but only
6 feet on the other. You would need to do some actual measurements or scale
the measurements to figure out the answer. When you drop a line from the
upper point of the triangle to the base, in the case of unequal sides the
line would not split the base exactly in half and one portion of the base
would be longer than the other. Once you determine the measurements along
the base line then follow the same method and formula to get the answers.
Good luck in coding it.
--
Larry Martin
Woodworking for the Blind
--joining the world of blind wood workers
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "David Ferrin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Would somebody please try posting this information again but in English
> this
> time? I'd like to put it up on the web, unfortunately never having
> trigonometry none of it made any sense to me enough to code in an HTML
> file
> at least. Also please use an example to explain the formula.
> David Ferrin
> Never purchase the first version of anything. This message brought to you
> by
> Windows Vista. Smart Computing March 2007
>
>
>
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To listen to the show archives go to link
http://acbradio.org/handyman.html
or
ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/
The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is.
http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday
The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is.
http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml
Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List
Members At The Following address:
http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/
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