C Program to Find the Area of a Triangle

The area of ​​a triangle is defined as the total area bounded by the three sides of a given triangle.

Area of a Triangle Formula:

• If the base and height are given, the area of the triangle is determined using the formula

  A = \(\frac{1}{2}*b*h\)

• If all sides are specified, the area of the triangle can be calculated using Heron’s formula:

  sqrt((s) * (s-a) * (s-b) * (s-c)), where s is the semi perimeter of the triangle and and a, b & c are the sides of triangle.

Example 1:

Given base = 5, height = 10, so area of the triangle is

A = \(\frac{1}{2}*b*h\) => A = \(\frac{1}{2}*10*5\) => A = 25.

Example 2:

Given a=5, b=9, c=6
Area = sqrt((s) * (s-a) * (s-b) * (s-c))
So, s = (a + b + c)/2 = (5 + 9 + 6)/2 = 10

Area = sqrt (10 * (10 – 5) * (10 – 9) * (10 – 6)) = sqrt(10 * 5 * 1 * 4) = 14.142.

Write a C program to find the area of a triangle.

1. Input the sides of the triangle.
2. Calculate the area of triangle using formula \(\frac{1}{2}*b*h\) or sqrt((s) * (s-a) * (s-b) * (s-c)).
3. Print area of triangle.

Area of a Triangle in C can be found out in following ways:

• Find Area of Triangle using Formula
• Find Area of Triangle using Heron’s Formula
• Find Area of Triangle using Function
• Find Area of Triangle using Pointer

When the base and height of a triangle are provided, the area is (b*h)/2, where b is the base and h is the height.

Example:

When the base is 10, and the height is 5, the area is (10*5)/2 = 25.
When the base is 10, and the height is 20, the area is (10*20)/2 = 100

Here is source code of the C program to calculate the area of a triangle using formula. The C program is successfully compiled and run on a Linux system. The program output is also shown below.

/*
 * C program to find the area of a triangle using formula
 */
#include <stdio.h>
void main()
{
    float base,height;
    printf("Enter Base and Height: ");
    scanf("%f %f",&base,&height);
    float area = (base * height) / 2;
 
    //Area with precision of 2 decimal places
    printf("Area of Triangle is %0.2f",area);
}

1. First, input the base and height of the triangle.
2. Calculate area using formula area = (base * height) / 2;
3. print the area. (In the above program the precision is of 2 decimal places, for which we have used %0.2f. For 5 decimal places use %0.5f)

Time Complexity: O(1)
In the above program there are no iterative statements, no function calls, the only operation performed is the input output, so the time complexity is O(1).

Space Complexity: O(1)
Since no auxiliary space is required, space complexity is O(1).

Testcase 1: In this case, the values ​​entered to calculate the area of ​​the triangle are base=”10″ and height=”5″.

Enter Base and Height: 10 5
Area of Triangle is 25.00

Testcase 2: In this case, the values ​​entered to calculate the area of ​​the triangle are base=”10″ and height=”20″.

Enter Base and Height: 10 20
Area of Triangle is 100.00

The area of a triangle when all its sides are given is: sqrt((s) * (s-a) *(s-b) * (s-c))), where s is the semi perimeter which is equal to (a+b+c)/2, and a, b, c are sides of the triangle.

Example:

If a=10, b=12, c=8

So, s = (a + b +c)/2 = 15

Area = sqrt (15 * (15-10) * (15 – 12) * (15 -8)) = sqrt(15 * 5 *3 *7) = 39.69.

Here is source code of the C program to calculate the area of a triangle using Heron’s formula. The C program is successfully compiled and run on a Linux system. The program output is also shown below.

/*
 * C program to find the area of a triangle using Heron's formula
 */
#include<stdio.h>
#include<math.h>
 
int main()
{
    float a, b, c, s, area;
    printf("\nEnter three sides of triangle\n");
    scanf("%f%f%f",&a,&b,&c);
    s = (a+b+c)/2;
 
    //Calculate area of triangle
    area = sqrt(s*(s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c));
 
    //Area with 2 digits of precision
    printf("\n Area of triangle: %.2f\n",area);
 
    return 0;
}

1. First, input the sides of the triangle and store them in the variables a, b and c.
2. Calculate area using formula sqrt(s*(s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c)), where s is the semiperimeter (s = (a+b+c)/2).
3. print the area.

Time Complexity: O(1)
In the above program there are no iterative statements, no function calls, the only operation performed is the input output, so the time complexity is O(1).

Space Complexity: O(1)
Since no auxiliary space is required, space complexity is O(1).

Testcase 1: In this case, the values ​​entered to calculate the area of ​​the triangle are a=”10″, b=”12″ and c=”8″.

Enter three sides of triangle
10 12 8
Area of triangle: 39.69

Testcase 2: In this case, the values ​​entered to calculate the area of ​​the triangle are a=”5″, b=”9″ and c=”6″.

Enter three sides of triangle
5 9 6
Area of triangle: 14.14

In this approach, we declare a function to calculate the area which takes the sides of a triangle as a parameter. Inside the function we calculate the area and return it.

Example:

If a=15, b=14, c=2

So, s = (a + b +c)/2 = 15.5

Area = sqrt (15.5 * (15.5 – 15) * (15.5 – 14) * (15.5 – 2)) = sqrt(15.5 * 0.5 * 1.5 * 13.5) = 12.53.

Here is source code of the C program to calculate the area of a triangle using function. The C program is successfully compiled and run on a Linux system. The program output is also shown below.

/*
 * C program to find the area of a triangle using function
 */
#include<stdio.h>
#include<math.h>
 
//Function to calculate area
float calc_area(float a,float b,float c)
{
    float s = (a+b+c)/2;
 
    //Return area of triangle
    return sqrt(s*(s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c));
}
int main()
{
    float a, b, c, s, area;
    printf("\nEnter three sides of triangle\n");
    scanf("%f%f%f",&a,&b,&c);
 
    //Area with 2 digits of precision
    printf("\n Area of triangle: %.2f\n", calc_area(a,b,c));
    return 0;
}

1. First, input the sides of the triangle and store them in the variables a, b and c.
2. Declare a function which takes the sides of a triangle as a parameter.
3. Inside the function, calculate the area using formula sqrt(s*(s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c)) and return it.
4. Call the function from main function.
5. print the area.

Time Complexity: O(1)
In the above program there are no iterative statements, no function calls, the only operation performed is the input output, so the time complexity is O(1).

Space Complexity: O(1)
Since no auxiliary space is required, space complexity is O(1).

Testcase 1: In this case, the values ​​entered to calculate the area of ​​the triangle are a=”15″, b=”14″ and c=”2″.

Enter three sides of triangle
15 14 2
Area of triangle: 12.53

Testcase 2: In this case, the values ​​entered to calculate the area of ​​the triangle are a=”5″, b=”9″ and c=”6″.

Enter three sides of triangle
5 9 6
Area of triangle: 14.14

In this approach, we declare a function to calculate the area which takes the sides and a pointer to the area as a parameter. Inside the function we calculate the area using heron’s formula (semi-perimeter method).

Here is source code of the C program to calculate the area of a triangle using pointer. The C program is successfully compiled and run on a Linux system. The program output is also shown below.

/*
 * C program to find the area of a triangle using pointer
 */
#include<stdio.h>
#include<math.h>
 
// Function to calculate area
void calc_area(float a,float b,float c,float *area)
{
    float s = (a+b+c)/2;
 
    // Storing area at memory location of area by dereferencing it
    *area = sqrt(s*(s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c));
}
int main()
{
    float a, b, c, area;
    printf("\nEnter three sides of triangle\n");
    scanf("%f%f%f",&a,&b,&c);
 
    // Calling function to calculate area
    calc_area(a,b,c,&area);
 
    //Area with 2 digits of precision
    printf("\n Area of triangle: %.2f\n",area);
 
    return 0;
}

1. First, input the sides of the triangle and store them in the variables a, b and c.
2. Declare a function which takes the sides of a triangle and a pointer to an area as a pointer.
3. Inside the function, calculate the area using formula sqrt(s*(s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c)) and store it inside the area.
4. Call the function from main function.
5. print the area.

Time Complexity: O(1)
In the above program there are no iterative statements, no function calls, the only operation performed is the input output, so the time complexity is O(1).

Space Complexity: O(1)
Since no auxiliary space is required, space complexity is O(1).

In this case, the values ​​entered to calculate the area of ​​the triangle are a=”15″, b=”14″ and c=”2″.

Enter three sides of triangle
15 14 2
Area of triangle: 12.53

To practice programs on every topic in C, please visit “Programming Examples in C”, “Data Structures in C” and “Algorithms in C”.