Area of Plane Shapes

Area is the size of a surface!

Learn more about Area, or try the Area Calculator.
Triangle
Area =
bh
b = base
h=
vertical
height
Rectangle
Area = w
h
w = width
h = height
Trapezoid
(US)
Trapezium
(UK)
Area =
(a+b)
h
h=
vertical
height
Ellipse
Area =
ab
Note: h is at right angles
to b:

Square
Area = a2
a = length of side

Parallelogram
Area = b h
b = base
h = vertical height

Circle
Area = r2
Circumference = 2 r
r = radius

Sector
Area = r2
r = radius
= angle in radians

Example: What is the area of this rectangle?

The formula is:

Area = w h
w = width
h = height
We know w = 5 and h = 3, so:
Area = 5 3 = 15

Example: What is the area of this circle?

Radius = r = 3
Area

= r2
= 32
= (3 3)
= 3.14159... 9
= 28.27 (to 2 decimal places)

Example: What is the area of this triangle?

Height = h = 12
Base = b = 20
Area = b h = 20 12 = 120

Area Of A Parallelogram
From Latin: area - "level ground, an open space,"
The number of square units it takes to completely fill a parallelogram.
Formula: Base Altitude
Try this Drag the orange dots to move and reshape the parallelogram. Drag point D to change the
base.

AREA OF A TRAPEZOID ("TRAPEZIUM" IN BRITISH USAGE)

The number of square units it takes to completely fill a trapezoid.
Formula: Average width Altitude
Try this Drag the orange dots to move and resize the trapezoid. As the size of the trapezoid
changes, the area is recalculated.

Area formula
The area of a trapezoid is given by the formula
where
b1, b2 are the lengths of each base
h is the altitude (height)

Calculator

Recall that the bases are the tw

o
parallel sides of the trapezoid. The altitude (or height) of a trapezoid is the perpendicular distance
between the two bases.