What is the equation for the area of a triangle in terms of its sides and angle?

In summary, the equation for the area of a triangle in terms of its lengths, angles, and vectors is as follows: (1/2)h|V3|sin900=(1/2)|V1||V2|sinθ.
  • #1
ozon
8
1
Hello,
I am new at this forum. Firstly, I want to say I am happy to be a member of this forum. English is not my native language. So I can make some grammer and other mistakes. I try to write with no mistakes. If I make mistakes for writing, I apologize.
I have a question. You see a triangle in the picture. There are some vectors. h is height or short distance between p0 and V3. In the picture, you see an equation to find h. How do you prove this equation?
ffjyx.jpg
 
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  • #2
Welcome to PF;
Have you tried starting with the definition of a vector cross-product?
 
  • #3
Thanks. Yes, I have. But I can't solve it.
h is norm of short distance between p0 and V3. So I have to use a new symbol for short distance. I want to call it as V4.
h=|V4|
|V4||V3|sin900=|V1xV2|
V4xV3=|V1xV2|
I have tried something but I have no idea. Some clues are very useful to prove this equation.
 
  • #4
HINT:
What does [itex]h |V_{3}|[/itex] give you?
What does [itex]|V_{1} \times V_{2}|[/itex] give you?
It is related to a property of the triangle.
 
  • #5
Fightfish said:
HINT:
What does [itex]h |V_{3}|[/itex] give you?
What does [itex]|V_{1} \times V_{2}|[/itex] give you?
It is related to a property of the triangle.

Thanks but I do not have any idea.
 
  • #6
Okay, I'll be a little more explicit: how would you go about finding the area of the triangle? There are two ways: 1st is by geometrical means, and 2nd by vectorial methods.
 
  • #7
Ok. First way is not problem to find area of the triangle. But I do not know how to find area of the triangle with vectorial methods. I think second way is necessary to prove this equation. Thanks for your clues. But I need more than them.
 
  • #8
ozon said:
Ok. First way is not problem to find area of the triangle. But I do not know how to find area of the triangle with vectorial methods. I think second way is necessary to prove this equation. Thanks for your clues. But I need more than them.

If A and B are the lengths of two sides of a triangle, and θ is the angle between the two sides, what is the equation for the area of the triangle in terms of A, B, and θ?
 
  • #9
Chestermiller said:
If A and B are the lengths of two sides of a triangle, and θ is the angle between the two sides, what is the equation for the area of the triangle in terms of A, B, and θ?

Your clue is very helpful for me. Thanks. It is very easy now.
Area of triangle (1/2)h|V3|sin900=(1/2)|V1||V2|sinθ
h|V3|=|V1xV2|
h=(|V1xV2|)/|V3|
Thank you everybody for your helping.
 

1. What is a vector?

A vector is a mathematical object that has both magnitude and direction. It is commonly represented by an arrow pointing in the direction of the vector, with the length of the arrow representing the magnitude.

2. How is a vector different from a scalar?

A scalar only has magnitude, while a vector has both magnitude and direction. For example, temperature is a scalar quantity as it only has a numerical value, while velocity is a vector quantity as it has both magnitude (speed) and direction.

3. What is the difference between a column vector and a row vector?

A column vector is a vector represented by a single column of numbers, while a row vector is represented by a single row of numbers. The order of the numbers in a column vector is important, while the order does not matter in a row vector.

4. How can vectors be added and subtracted?

Vectors can be added and subtracted using the parallelogram law or the triangle law. To add two vectors, place the tail of the second vector at the head of the first vector and draw a line from the tail of the first vector to the head of the second vector. The resulting vector from the tail of the first vector to the head of the second vector is the sum of the two vectors.

5. What is the dot product of two vectors?

The dot product of two vectors is a scalar quantity that results from multiplying the magnitudes of the two vectors and the cosine of the angle between them. It is used to find the angle between two vectors, determine if two vectors are orthogonal (perpendicular), and to project one vector onto another.

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