Free Online Calculator for Area of Triangle Formed by Three Lines
An Online calculator to calculate the area of a triangle formed by three lines as shown in the figure below.
Formulas Used in Calculator
Let the three lines be given by the equations:
\( L_1: \quad a_1 x + b_1 y = c_1 \)
\( L_2: \quad a_2 x + b_2 y = c_2 \)
\( L_3: \quad a_3 x + b_3 y = c_3 \)
If any, the point of intersection \( A \) of lines \( L_1 \) and \( L_2 \) is found by solving the systems of equations corresponding to these two lines.
\(\quad a_1 x + b_1 y = c_1 \)
\(\quad a_2 x + b_2 y = c_2 \)
Cramer's rule ( using determinants), gives the \( x \) and \( y \) coordinates of point \( A\) as follows:
Point \( B \) is the intersection of lines \( L_2 \) and \( L_3 \) and its coordinates may be calculated in a similar way as those of point \( A \) above.
\( x_B = \dfrac{
\begin{vmatrix}
c_2 & b_2\\
c_3 & b_3
\end{vmatrix}
}{\begin{vmatrix}
a_2 & b_2\\
a_3 & b_3
\end{vmatrix}} \quad \) , \( \quad y_B = \dfrac{\begin{vmatrix}
a_2 & c_2\\
a_3 & c_3
\end{vmatrix}}{\begin{vmatrix}
a_2 & b_2\\
a_3 & b_3
\end{vmatrix}} \)
Point \( C \) is the intersection of lines \( L_1 \) and \( L_3 \) and its coordinates may be calculated in a similar way as those of points \( A \) and \( B \) above.
\( x_C = \dfrac{
\begin{vmatrix}
c_1 & b_1\\
c_3 & b_3
\end{vmatrix}
}{\begin{vmatrix}
a_1 & b_1\\
a_3 & b_3
\end{vmatrix}} \quad \) , \( \quad y_C = \dfrac{\begin{vmatrix}
a_1 & c_1\\
a_3 & c_3
\end{vmatrix}}{\begin{vmatrix}
a_1 & b_1\\
a_3 & b_3
\end{vmatrix}} \)
Once the coordinates have been calculated, we calculate the length of the sides \(AB\), \( BC \) and \( CA \) as follows
\( AB = \sqrt {(x_B - x_A)^2+(y_B - y_A)^2} \) , \( BC = \sqrt {(x_C - x_B)^2+(y_C - y_B)^2} \) , \( CA = \sqrt {(x_A - x_C)^2+(y_A - y_C)^2} \)
We finally use Heron's formula to calculate the area of the triangle as follows:
\( \text{Area} = \sqrt{s(s-AB)(s-BC)(s-CA)} \) , where \( s = \dfrac{1}{2} (AB+BC+CA) \)
Use of Online Calculator to Find Area of Triangle Formed by Three Lines
Enter the coefficients \( a \),\( b\) and \( c \) as defined above for lines \( L_1\), \( L_2 \) and \( L_3 \) as real numbers and press "Calculate".
The results are: the coordinates of the points of intersections \( A \), \(B \) and \( C \) if any and the area.
Results
Activities
Use the calculator to find the area of the triangles formed by the three lines given below.
a)
\( L_1: \quad x = -7 \)
,
\( L_2: \quad x + 5 y = 8 \)
,
\( L_3: \quad - x + 5y = 2\) (Answer: 20 unit squared)
b)
\( L_1: \quad 5x + 6y = -17 \)
,
\( L_2: \quad y = 3 \)
,
\( L_3: \quad - 5x + 4y = -3\) (Answer: 25 unit squared)
c)
\( L_1: \quad - 7x +19 y = -8 \)
,
\( L_2: \quad -3x + 2 y = 15\)
,
\( L_3: \quad x - 15y = -48\) (Answer: 43 unit squared)
