[Geometry] Quadrature of the Triangle
By: Tao Steven Zheng (鄭濤)
【Problem】
Shushu Jiuzhang (Tianyulei 2)
There is a field of sand with three sides. The short side is 13 ''li'', the medium side is 14 ''li'', and the long side is 15 ''li''. The ''li'' rule is 300 ''bu''. How large is the field?


【Solution】
In the ''Shushu Jiuzhang'', Qin Jiushao gave the formula:
where is the area of a triangle,
is the short side,
is the middle side, and
is the long side (derivation below).
The area Qin Jiushao gave is 315 ''qing''. This is calculated by knowing that 1 ''li'' is 300 ''bu'', 1 ''mu'' is 240 ''sq.bu'', and 1 ''qing'' is 100 ''mu''.
【Derivation】

Let be the base,
be the height, and
be the area of the triangle, then
From the above diagram, determine two equations for :
Equation 1
Equation 2
Equate both equations and solve for :
Substitute this result into Equation 1 and take the positive square root:
The area of the triangle is therefore
or