Where Does the Parallelogram Formula Come from?

Intuition for why the area of a parallelogram is A = b h A=bh A=bh. The formula for the area of a parallelogram is base times height, just like the formula for the area of a rectangle. Genius! You made the parallelogram into a rectangle.

How is the formula for a parallelogram derived?

The area of the parallelogram is the summation of the individual areas of the two triangles. We drop a perpendicular from a vertex to its opposite side to get an expression for the height of the triangles. The area of the individual triangle is 12×base×height .

How can you derive the area of a triangle from the area of a parallelogram *?

To find the area of a triangle, multiply the base by the height, and then divide by 2. The division by 2 comes from the fact that a parallelogram can be divided into 2 triangles. For example, in the diagram to the left, the area of each triangle is equal to one-half the area of the parallelogram.

Sarah Jenkins

Sarah Jenkins

Senior Technology Editor & AI Specialist

Sarah Jenkins is a veteran tech journalist with over 12 years of experience covering artificial intelligence, mobile innovations, and digital ethics. Her insights have appeared in leading technology publications worldwide.