Area of Parallelograms and Triangles
- Author:
- ctmathnut
- Topic:
- Area, Parallelogram, Triangles
Interact with the activity below to answer the following questions.
1. Find the area of the rectangle.
2. Drag the slider through the animation to see a triangular piece of the rectangle moved to create a parallelogram. Find the area of the parallelogram. How did you come to this conclusion?
3. The formula for the area of a parallelogram is A = base * height. Why does this make better sense than trying to multiply the length by the width as you would for a rectangle?
4. Cut along the diagonal of the parallelogram (Check the box below). What is the result?
The formula for the area of a triangle is A = (base * height)/2. Based on what you have discovered why does this make sense?