Calculating the area of a triangle is an elementary problem encountered often in many different situations. The best known and simplest formula is show above. The term Base denotes any side, and Height denotes the length of a perpendicular from the vertex opposite the side onto the line containing the side itself. Although simple, this formula is only useful if the height can be readily found. For cases when the height is not available, Hero's Formula can be used: www.automathic.org/2_heros-formula