PROBLEM SOLVING WITH HERON'S FORMULA
Introduction
Heron's formula for the area of a triangle with sides of length a, b, c is
where
It is unfortunate that this topic has essentially disappeared from school curriculum today. Calculation, given available calculations and computers, can no longer be a reason for avoiding the formula. In what follows, I hope to show some interesting and challenging problems using Heron's formula.
Whether or not one would pose the demonstration or proof of Heron's formula for a particular class would depend on the class. Initially, exploration with Heron's formula could involve computing areas using the formula and making comparison's of the results -- much as we pose analogous exercises in a meaningful way with the Pythagorean theorem long before a proof or demonstration is fully understood.
For instance, one exercise could be to have students measure the sides and an altitude on several triangles and, with calculator, compute the areas with both formulas
Comparison of the results could well lead to intuitions about the areas of triangles and understanding of when one formula would be more applicable than the other.
Heron's Formula
The demonstration and proof of Heron's formula can be done from elementary consideration of geometry and algebra. I will present an algebraic proof here. Alternative proofs and derivations are suggested on the Jwilson web site, Heron's Formula and a particularly concise geometric proof is given at Heron's Formula, Geometric Proof.
I will assume the Pythagorean theorem and the area formula for a triangle
where b is the length of a base and h is the height to that base.
We have
so, for future reference,
2s = a + b + c
2(s - a) = - a + b + c
2(s - b) = a - b + c
2(s - c) = a + b - c
There is at least one side of our triangle for which the altitude lies "inside" the triangle. For convenience make that the side of length c. It will not make any difference, just simpler.
Let p + q = c as indicated. Then