Area of parallelograms and triangles

​​In a nutshell

Formulae are used to calculate the area of parallelograms and triangles.

Area of a parallelogram

A parallelogram is a slanted rectangle. You can work out the area of a parallelogram using the following formula.

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Example 1

Find the area of the parallelogram.

​$$4m$$​​
	​$$5m$$​​

The base of the parallelogram is $$5m$$ and the perpendicular height is $$4m$$. Insert these values into the formula to work out the area.

$$Area = b \times h \\Area = 5 \times 4 \\\underline{Area = 20 m^2}$$

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Area of a triangle

You can work out the area of a triangle using the following formula.

Example 2

Find the area of the triangle.

This triangle has a height of $$4cm$$ and a base length of $$6cm$$. Insert these values into the formula.

     $$\begin{aligned}Area &= \dfrac{1}{2} \times \ b \times \ h \\ \\ Area&= \dfrac{1}{2} \times 6 \times 4 \\ \\Area &= \dfrac{24}{2} \\\\\end{aligned} \\ \underline{Area = 12cm^2}$$