Heron’s formula gives a method of finding the area of a triangle if the lengths of its sides are known. Suppose that a, b, and c are the lengths of the sides. Let s denote one-half of the perimeter of the triangle (called the semiperimeter)—that is,

Then the area of the triangle is given by

Use Heron’s formula to solve each problem.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, is in the shape of an unenclosed isosceles triangle with equal sides of length 246.75 ft. If the triangle were enclosed, the third side would have length 438.14 ft. Find the area of this enclosure to the nearest hundred square feet.

Transcribed Image Text:

S = ½(a + b + c).