Question

A triangle has sides with lengths: 2, 8, and 4. How do you find the area of the triangle using Heron's formula?

Answer 1

As there does not exists such a triangle, area cannot be determined.

Explanation:

According to Heron's formula if `a`, `b`, `c` are three sides of a triangle, its area is given by `sqrt(s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c))`, where `s=1/2(a+b+c)`.

Here sides are 2, 8 and 4. But to form a triangle sum of two smaller sides should be greater than largest side, which is not here. Hence, as there does not exists such a triangle, area cannot be determined.