NYS COMMON CORE MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM Lesson 4 6•5

Lesson 4: The Area of All Triangles Using Height and Base

Classwork
Opening Exercise
Draw and label the altitude of each triangle below.

a.

b.

c.

Exploratory Challenge/Exercises 1–5

1. Use rectangle X and the triangle with the altitude inside (triangle X) to show that the area formula for the triangle is
1
𝐴 = × base × height.
2
a. Step One: Find the area of rectangle X.

b. Step Two: What is half the area of rectangle X?

Lesson 4: The Area of All Triangles Using Height and Base

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 NYS COMMON CORE MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM Lesson 4 6•5

c. Step Three: Prove, by decomposing triangle X, that it is the same as half of rectangle X. Please glue your
decomposed triangle onto a separate sheet of paper. Glue it into rectangle X. What conclusions can you make
about the triangle’s area compared to the rectangle’s area?

2. Use rectangle Y and the triangle with a side that is the altitude (triangle Y) to show the area formula for the triangle
1
is 𝐴 = × base × height.
2
a. Step One: Find the area of rectangle Y.

b. Step Two: What is half the area of rectangle Y?

c. Step Three: Prove, by decomposing triangle Y, that it is the same as half of rectangle Y. Please glue your
decomposed triangle onto a separate sheet of paper. Glue it into rectangle Y. What conclusions can you make
about the triangle’s area compared to the rectangle’s area?

3. Use rectangle Z and the triangle with the altitude outside (triangle Z) to show the area formula for the triangle is
1
𝐴 = × base × height.
2
a. Step One: Find the area of rectangle Z.

b. Step Two: What is half the area of rectangle Z?

c. Step Three: Prove, by decomposing triangle Z, that it is the same as half of rectangle Z. Please glue your
decomposed triangle onto a separate sheet of paper. Glue it into rectangle Z. What conclusions can you make
about the triangle’s area compared to the rectangle’s area?

Lesson 4: The Area of All Triangles Using Height and Base

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 NYS COMMON CORE MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM Lesson 4 6•5

4. When finding the area of a triangle, does it matter where the altitude is located?

5. How can you determine which part of the triangle is the base and which is the height?

Exercises 6–8
Calculate the area of each triangle. Figures are not drawn to scale.

6.

10 in. 8 in.

24 in. 6 in.

3
7. 12 ft.
4

1 1
9 ft. 14 ft.
2 8

8. Draw three triangles (acute, right, and obtuse) that have the same area. Explain how you know they have the same
area.

Lesson 4: The Area of All Triangles Using Height and Base

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 NYS COMMON CORE MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM Lesson 4 6•5

Problem Set

Calculate the area of each figure below. Figures are not drawn to scale.
1. 2.
17 in. 75 m
8 in. 10 in. 21 m

15 in. 6 in.
72 m

3. 4.

29.2 km

21.9 km 75.8 km

5. The Andersons are going on a long sailing trip during the summer. However, one of the sails on their sailboat
ripped, and they have to replace it. The sail is pictured below.
If the sailboat sails are on sale for $2 per square foot, how much will the new sail cost?

Lesson 4: The Area of All Triangles Using Height and Base

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 NYS COMMON CORE MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM Lesson 4 6•5

6. Darnell and Donovan are both trying to calculate the area of an obtuse triangle. Examine their calculations below.

Darnell’s Work Donovan’s Work

1 1
𝐴= × 3 in. × 4 in. 𝐴= × 12 in. × 4 in.
2 2
𝐴 = 6 in2 𝐴 = 24 in2

Which student calculated the area correctly? Explain why the other student is not correct.

7. Russell calculated the area of the triangle below. His work is shown.

24 cm
25 cm
25 cm 7 cm

43 cm
1
𝐴= × 43 cm × 7 cm
2
𝐴 = 150.5 cm2

Although Russell was told his work is correct, he had a hard time explaining why it is correct. Help Russell explain
why his calculations are correct.

8. The larger triangle below has a base of 10.14 m; the gray triangle has an area of 40.325 m2 .

a. Determine the area of the larger triangle if it has a height of 12.2 m.

b. Let 𝐴 be the area of the unshaded (white) triangle in square meters. Write and solve an equation to determine
the value of 𝐴, using the areas of the larger triangle and the gray triangle.

Lesson 4: The Area of All Triangles Using Height and Base

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This file derived from G6-M5-TE-1.3.0-10.2015 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.