Introducing the Topic
In this chapter, you and your students will explore three formulas and the use of
the graphing calculator, particularly the SOLVER, in finding the area of a triangle.
Calculator Operations
Before using the calculator to solve problems in this chapter, set the calculator
to operate in degrees with 2ndF SET UP , touch
B DRG
, and double touch
1 Deg
. Press 2ndF QUIT to exit the set up screen.
Depending on the information given in the problem situation, there are three
formulas you can use to find the area of any triangle:
1.
The area of a triangle is one-half the product of the base and the height
where the height is the length of the line segment drawn from a vertex of
the triangle perpendicular to the opposite side called the base.
area
=
base•height
Area of a Triangle/TRIGONOMETRY USING THE SHARP EL-9600
41
AREA OF A TRIANGLE
Chapter nine
1
2
height
base