area

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Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-dimensional object. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat. It is the two-dimensional analogue of the length of a curve (a one-dimensional concept) or the
volume Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). ...
of a solid (a three-dimensional concept). The area of a shape can be measured by comparing the shape to
square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle In Euclidean ge ...
s of a fixed size. In the
International System of Units The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that ...
(SI), the standard unit of area is the
square metre The square metre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter ( American spelling) is the unit of area in the International System of Units (SI) with symbol m2. It is the area of a squ ...
(written as m2), which is the area of a square whose sides are one
metre The metre ( British spelling) or meter ( American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its ...
long. A shape with an area of three square metres would have the same area as three such squares. In
mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, the
unit square In mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in m ...
is defined to have area one, and the area of any other shape or surface is a dimensionless
real number In mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in ...
. There are several well-known
formula In science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest arche ...
s for the areas of simple shapes such as
triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that inc ...
s,
rectangle In Euclidean geometry, Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90°); or a par ...
s, and
circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is co ...
s. Using these formulas, the area of any polygon can be found by dividing the polygon into triangles. For shapes with curved boundary, calculus is usually required to compute the area. Indeed, the problem of determining the area of plane figures was a major motivation for the historical development of calculus. For a solid shape such as a sphere, cone, or cylinder, the area of its boundary surface is called the surface area. Formulas for the surface areas of simple shapes were computed by the ancient Greeks, but computing the surface area of a more complicated shape usually requires multivariable calculus. Area plays an important role in modern mathematics. In addition to its obvious importance in
geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, an ...
and calculus, area is related to the definition of determinants in
linear algebra Linear algebra is the branch of mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. Thes ...
, and is a basic property of surfaces in differential geometry. do Carmo, Manfredo (1976). ''Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces''. Prentice-Hall. p. 98, In analysis, the area of a subset of the plane is defined using Lebesgue measure,Walter Rudin (1966). ''Real and Complex Analysis'', McGraw-Hill, . though not every subset is measurable. In general, area in higher mathematics is seen as a special case of volume for two-dimensional regions. Area can be defined through the use of axioms, defining it as a function of a collection of certain plane figures to the set of real numbers. It can be proved that such a function exists.

# Formal definition

An approach to defining what is meant by "area" is through axioms. "Area" can be defined as a function from a collection M of a special kinds of plane figures (termed measurable sets) to the set of real numbers, which satisfies the following properties: * For all ''S'' in ''M'', . * If ''S'' and ''T'' are in ''M'' then so are and , and also . * If ''S'' and ''T'' are in ''M'' with then is in ''M'' and . * If a set ''S'' is in ''M'' and ''S'' is congruent to ''T'' then ''T'' is also in ''M'' and . * Every rectangle ''R'' is in ''M''. If the rectangle has length ''h'' and breadth ''k'' then . * Let ''Q'' be a set enclosed between two step regions ''S'' and ''T''. A step region is formed from a finite union of adjacent rectangles resting on a common base, i.e. . If there is a unique number ''c'' such that for all such step regions ''S'' and ''T'', then . It can be proved that such an area function actually exists.

# Units

Every unit of length has a corresponding unit of area, namely the area of a square with the given side length. Thus areas can be measured in
square metre The square metre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter ( American spelling) is the unit of area in the International System of Units (SI) with symbol m2. It is the area of a squ ...
s (m2), square centimetres (cm2), square millimetres (mm2),
square kilometre Square kilometre ( International spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square kilometer (American spelling), symbol km2, is a multiple of the square metre The square metre ( international spelling as used by ...
s (km2), square feet (ft2), square yards (yd2),
square mile The square mile (abbreviated as sq mi and sometimes as mi2)Rowlett, Russ (September 1, 2004) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved February 22, 2012. is an imperial and US unit of measure for area. One square mile is an ...
s (mi2), and so forth. Algebraically, these units can be thought of as the squares of the corresponding length units. The SI unit of area is the square metre, which is considered an
SI derived unit SI derived units are units of measurement derived from the seven base units specified by the International System of Units (SI). They can be expressed as a product (or ratio) of one or more of the base units, possibly scaled by an appropriate ...
.

## Conversions

Calculation of the area of a square whose length and width are 1 metre would be: 1 metre × 1 metre = 1 m2 and so, a rectangle with different sides (say length of 3 metres and width of 2 metres) would have an area in square units that can be calculated as: 3 metres × 2 metres = 6 m2. This is equivalent to 6 million square millimetres. Other useful conversions are: * 1 square kilometre = 1,000,000 square metres * 1 square metre = 10,000 square centimetres = 1,000,000 square millimetres * 1 square centimetre = 100 square millimetres.

### Non-metric units

In non-metric units, the conversion between two square units is the
square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle In Euclidean ge ...
of the conversion between the corresponding length units. :1 foot = 12
inch Measuring tape with inches The inch (symbol: in or ″) is a unit of length in the British imperial and the United States customary systems of measurement. It is equal to yard or of a foot. Derived from the Roman uncia ("twelf ...
es, the relationship between square feet and square inches is :1 square foot = 144 square inches, where 144 = 122 = 12 × 12. Similarly: * 1 square yard = 9 square feet * 1 square mile = 3,097,600 square yards = 27,878,400 square feet In addition, conversion factors include: * 1 square inch = 6.4516 square centimetres * 1 square foot = square metres * 1 square yard = square metres * 1 square mile = square kilometres

## Other units including historical

There are several other common units for area. The are was the original unit of area in the
metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Intern ...
, with: * 1 are = 100 square metres Though the are has fallen out of use, the
hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre i ...
is still commonly used to measure land: Chapter 5. * 1 hectare = 100 ares = 10,000 square metres = 0.01 square kilometres Other uncommon metric units of area include the tetrad, the hectad, and the myriad. The
acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an over ...
is also commonly used to measure land areas, where * 1 acre = 4,840 square yards = 43,560 square feet. An acre is approximately 40% of a hectare. On the atomic scale, area is measured in units of barns, such that: * 1 barn = 10−28 square meters. The barn is commonly used in describing the cross-sectional area of interaction in
nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical sci ...
. In
India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on th ...
, * 20 dhurki = 1 dhur * 20 dhur = 1 khatha * 20 khata = 1 bigha * 32 khata = 1 acre

# History

## Circle area

In the 5th century BCE, Hippocrates of Chios was the first to show that the area of a disk (the region enclosed by a circle) is proportional to the square of its diameter, as part of his quadrature of the lune of Hippocrates, but did not identify the constant of proportionality. Eudoxus of Cnidus, also in the 5th century BCE, also found that the area of a disk is proportional to its radius squared. Subsequently, Book I of Euclid's ''Elements'' dealt with equality of areas between two-dimensional figures. The mathematician Archimedes used the tools of Euclidean geometry to show that the area inside a circle is equal to that of a right triangle whose base has the length of the circle's circumference and whose height equals the circle's radius, in his book '' Measurement of a Circle''. (The circumference is 2''r'', and the area of a triangle is half the base times the height, yielding the area ''r''2 for the disk.) Archimedes approximated the value of π (and hence the area of a unit-radius circle) with his doubling method, in which he inscribed a regular triangle in a circle and noted its area, then doubled the number of sides to give a regular hexagon, then repeatedly doubled the number of sides as the polygon's area got closer and closer to that of the circle (and did the same with circumscribed polygons). Swiss scientist Johann Heinrich Lambert in 1761 proved that π, the ratio of a circle's area to its squared radius, is irrational, meaning it is not equal to the quotient of any two whole numbers. English translation by Catriona and David Lischka. In 1794, French mathematician Adrien-Marie Legendre proved that π2 is irrational; this also proves that π is irrational. In 1882, German mathematician Ferdinand von Lindemann proved that π is transcendental (not the solution of any polynomial equation with rational coefficients), confirming a conjecture made by both Legendre and Euler.

## Triangle area

Heron (or Hero) of Alexandria found what is known as Heron's formula for the area of a triangle in terms of its sides, and a proof can be found in his book, ''Metrica'', written around 60 CE. It has been suggested that Archimedes knew the formula over two centuries earlier, and since ''Metrica'' is a collection of the mathematical knowledge available in the ancient world, it is possible that the formula predates the reference given in that work. In 499 Aryabhata, a great
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and q ...
-
astronomer An astronomer is a scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period o ...
from the classical age of
Indian mathematics Indian mathematics emerged in the Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the t ...
and Indian astronomy, expressed the area of a triangle as one-half the base times the height in the '' Aryabhatiya'' (section 2.6). A formula equivalent to Heron's was discovered by the Chinese independently of the Greeks. It was published in 1247 in ''Shushu Jiuzhang'' (" Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections"), written by Qin Jiushao.

In the 7th century CE, Brahmagupta developed a formula, now known as Brahmagupta's formula, for the area of a cyclic quadrilateral (a quadrilateral inscribed in a circle) in terms of its sides. In 1842, the German mathematicians Carl Anton Bretschneider and Karl Georg Christian von Staudt independently found a formula, known as Bretschneider's formula, for the area of any quadrilateral.

## General polygon area

The development of Cartesian coordinates by René Descartes in the 17th century allowed the development of the surveyor's formula for the area of any polygon with known vertex locations by Gauss in the 19th century.

## Areas determined using calculus

The development of integral calculus in the late 17th century provided tools that could subsequently be used for computing more complicated areas, such as the area of an
ellipse In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse ...
and the surface areas of various curved three-dimensional objects.

# Area formulas

## Polygon formulas

For a non-self-intersecting ( simple) polygon, the Cartesian coordinates $\left(x_i, y_i\right)$ (''i''=0, 1, ..., ''n''-1) of whose ''n'' vertices are known, the area is given by the surveyor's formula: :$A = \frac \Biggl\vert \sum_^\left( x_i y_ - x_ y_i\right) \Biggr\vert$ where when ''i''=''n''-1, then ''i''+1 is expressed as modulus ''n'' and so refers to 0.

### Rectangles

The most basic area formula is the formula for the area of a
rectangle In Euclidean geometry, Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90°); or a par ...
. Given a rectangle with length and width , the formula for the area is: :  (rectangle). That is, the area of the rectangle is the length multiplied by the width. As a special case, as in the case of a square, the area of a square with side length is given by the formula: :  (square). The formula for the area of a rectangle follows directly from the basic properties of area, and is sometimes taken as a definition or axiom. On the other hand, if
geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, an ...
is developed before arithmetic, this formula can be used to define
multiplication Multiplication (often denoted by the cross symbol , by the mid-line dot operator , by juxtaposition, or, on computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( c ...
of
real number In mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in ...
s.

### Dissection, parallelograms, and triangles

Most other simple formulas for area follow from the method of dissection. This involves cutting a shape into pieces, whose areas must sum to the area of the original shape. For an example, any
parallelogram In Euclidean geometry, a parallelogram is a simple (non- self-intersecting) quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel sides. The opposite or facing sides of a parallelogram are of equal length and the opposite angles of a parallelogram are of ...
can be subdivided into a trapezoid and a right triangle, as shown in figure to the left. If the triangle is moved to the other side of the trapezoid, then the resulting figure is a rectangle. It follows that the area of the parallelogram is the same as the area of the rectangle: :  (parallelogram). However, the same parallelogram can also be cut along a diagonal into two congruent triangles, as shown in the figure to the right. It follows that the area of each
triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that inc ...
is half the area of the parallelogram: :$A = \fracbh$  (triangle). Similar arguments can be used to find area formulas for the trapezoid as well as more complicated polygons.

## Area of curved shapes

### Circles

The formula for the area of a
circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is co ...
(more properly called the area enclosed by a circle or the area of a disk) is based on a similar method. Given a circle of radius , it is possible to partition the circle into sectors, as shown in the figure to the right. Each sector is approximately triangular in shape, and the sectors can be rearranged to form an approximate parallelogram. The height of this parallelogram is , and the width is half the circumference of the circle, or . Thus, the total area of the circle is : :  (circle). Though the dissection used in this formula is only approximate, the error becomes smaller and smaller as the circle is partitioned into more and more sectors. The limit of the areas of the approximate parallelograms is exactly , which is the area of the circle. This argument is actually a simple application of the ideas of calculus. In ancient times, the method of exhaustion was used in a similar way to find the area of the circle, and this method is now recognized as a precursor to integral calculus. Using modern methods, the area of a circle can be computed using a definite integral: :$A \;=\;2\int_^r \sqrt\,dx \;=\; \pi r^2.$

### Ellipses

The formula for the area enclosed by an
ellipse In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse ...
is related to the formula of a circle; for an ellipse with semi-major and semi-minor axes and the formula is: :$A = \pi xy .$

## Non-planar surface area

Most basic formulas for surface area can be obtained by cutting surfaces and flattening them out (see: developable surfaces). For example, if the side surface of a cylinder (or any
prism Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry) In geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics Mathemati ...
) is cut lengthwise, the surface can be flattened out into a rectangle. Similarly, if a cut is made along the side of a cone, the side surface can be flattened out into a sector of a circle, and the resulting area computed. The formula for the surface area of a sphere is more difficult to derive: because a sphere has nonzero Gaussian curvature, it cannot be flattened out. The formula for the surface area of a sphere was first obtained by Archimedes in his work '' On the Sphere and Cylinder''. The formula is: :  (sphere), where is the radius of the sphere. As with the formula for the area of a circle, any derivation of this formula inherently uses methods similar to calculus.

## General formulas

### Areas of 2-dimensional figures

* A
triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that inc ...
: $\tfrac12Bh$ (where ''B'' is any side, and ''h'' is the distance from the line on which ''B'' lies to the other vertex of the triangle). This formula can be used if the height ''h'' is known. If the lengths of the three sides are known then '' Heron's formula'' can be used: $\sqrt$ where ''a'', ''b'', ''c'' are the sides of the triangle, and $s = \tfrac12\left(a + b + c\right)$ is half of its perimeter. If an angle and its two included sides are given, the area is $\tfrac12 a b \sin\left(C\right)$ where is the given angle and and are its included sides. If the triangle is graphed on a coordinate plane, a matrix can be used and is simplified to the absolute value of $\tfrac12\left(x_1 y_2 + x_2 y_3 + x_3 y_1 - x_2 y_1 - x_3 y_2 - x_1 y_3\right)$. This formula is also known as the shoelace formula and is an easy way to solve for the area of a coordinate triangle by substituting the 3 points ''(x1,y1)'', ''(x2,y2)'', and ''(x3,y3)''. The shoelace formula can also be used to find the areas of other polygons when their vertices are known. Another approach for a coordinate triangle is to use calculus to find the area. * A simple polygon constructed on a grid of equal-distanced points (i.e., points with
integer An integer is the number zero (), a positive natural number In mathematics, the natural numbers are those number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural number ...
coordinates) such that all the polygon's vertices are grid points: $i + \frac - 1$, where ''i'' is the number of grid points inside the polygon and ''b'' is the number of boundary points. This result is known as Pick's theorem.

### Area in calculus

* The area between a positive-valued curve and the horizontal axis, measured between two values ''a'' and ''b'' (b is defined as the larger of the two values) on the horizontal axis, is given by the integral from ''a'' to ''b'' of the function that represents the curve: :$A = \int_a^ f\left(x\right) \, dx.$ * The area between the graphs of two functions is equal to the integral of one function, ''f''(''x''), minus the integral of the other function, ''g''(''x''): :$A = \int_a^ \left( f\left(x\right) - g\left(x\right) \right) \, dx,$ where $f\left(x\right)$ is the curve with the greater y-value. * An area bounded by a function $r = r\left(\theta\right)$ expressed in polar coordinates is: :$A = \int r^2 \, d\theta.$ * The area enclosed by a parametric curve $\vec u\left(t\right) = \left(x\left(t\right), y\left(t\right)\right)$ with endpoints $\vec u\left(t_0\right) = \vec u\left(t_1\right)$ is given by the line integrals: ::$\oint_^ x \dot y \, dt = - \oint_^ y \dot x \, dt = \oint_^ \left(x \dot y - y \dot x\right) \, dt$ : or the ''z''-component of ::$\oint_^ \vec u \times \dot \, dt.$ :(For details, see .) This is the principle of the planimeter mechanical device.

### Bounded area between two quadratic functions

To find the bounded area between two quadratic functions, we subtract one from the other to write the difference as :$f\left(x\right)-g\left(x\right)=ax^2+bx+c=a\left(x-\alpha\right)\left(x-\beta\right)$ where ''f''(''x'') is the quadratic upper bound and ''g''(''x'') is the quadratic lower bound. Define the discriminant of ''f''(''x'')-''g''(''x'') as :$\Delta=b^2-4ac.$ By simplifying the integral formula between the graphs of two functions (as given in the section above) and using Vieta's formula, we can obtain :$A=\frac=\frac\left(\beta-\alpha\right)^3,\qquad a\neq0.$ The above remains valid if one of the bounding functions is linear instead of quadratic.

### Surface area of 3-dimensional figures

* Cone: $\pi r\left\left(r + \sqrt\right\right)$, where ''r'' is the radius of the circular base, and ''h'' is the height. That can also be rewritten as $\pi r^2 + \pi r l$ or $\pi r \left(r + l\right) \,\!$ where ''r'' is the radius and ''l'' is the slant height of the cone. $\pi r^2$ is the base area while $\pi r l$ is the lateral surface area of the cone. *
Cube In geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they ...
: $6s^2$, where ''s'' is the length of an edge. * Cylinder: $2\pi r\left(r + h\right)$, where ''r'' is the radius of a base and ''h'' is the height. The $2\pi r$ can also be rewritten as $\pi d$, where ''d'' is the diameter. *
Prism Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry) In geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics Mathemati ...
: $2B + Ph$, where ''B'' is the area of a base, ''P'' is the perimeter of a base, and ''h'' is the height of the prism. *
pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a Nonbuilding structure, structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a Pyramid (geometry), pyramid in the geometric sense. The base o ...
: $B + \frac$, where ''B'' is the area of the base, ''P'' is the perimeter of the base, and ''L'' is the length of the slant. * Rectangular prism: $2 \left(\ell w + \ell h + w h\right)$, where $\ell$ is the length, ''w'' is the width, and ''h'' is the height.

### General formula for surface area

The general formula for the surface area of the graph of a continuously differentiable function $z=f\left(x,y\right),$ where $\left(x,y\right)\in D\subset\mathbb^2$ and $D$ is a region in the xy-plane with the smooth boundary: : $A=\iint_D\sqrt\,dx\,dy.$ An even more general formula for the area of the graph of a parametric surface in the vector form $\mathbf=\mathbf\left(u,v\right),$ where $\mathbf$ is a continuously differentiable vector function of $\left(u,v\right)\in D\subset\mathbb^2$ is: : $A=\iint_D \left, \frac\times\frac\\,du\,dv.$

## List of formulas

The above calculations show how to find the areas of many common shapes. The areas of irregular (and thus arbitrary) polygons can be calculated using the " Surveyor's formula" (shoelace formula).

## Relation of area to perimeter

The isoperimetric inequality states that, for a closed curve of length ''L'' (so the region it encloses has perimeter ''L'') and for area ''A'' of the region that it encloses, :$4\pi A \le L^2,$ and equality holds if and only if the curve is a
circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is co ...
. Thus a circle has the largest area of any closed figure with a given perimeter. At the other extreme, a figure with given perimeter ''L'' could have an arbitrarily small area, as illustrated by a
rhombus In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus (plural rhombi or rhombuses) is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. T ...
that is "tipped over" arbitrarily far so that two of its angles are arbitrarily close to 0° and the other two are arbitrarily close to 180°. For a circle, the ratio of the area to the circumference (the term for the perimeter of a circle) equals half the radius ''r''. This can be seen from the area formula ''πr''2 and the circumference formula 2''πr''. The area of a
regular polygon In Euclidean geometry, a regular polygon is a polygon that is direct equiangular (all angles are equal in measure) and equilateral (all sides have the same length). Regular polygons may be either convex, star A star is an astronomica ...
is half its perimeter times the apothem (where the apothem is the distance from the center to the nearest point on any side).

## Fractals

Doubling the edge lengths of a polygon multiplies its area by four, which is two (the ratio of the new to the old side length) raised to the power of two (the dimension of the space the polygon resides in). But if the one-dimensional lengths of a fractal drawn in two dimensions are all doubled, the spatial content of the fractal scales by a power of two that is not necessarily an integer. This power is called the fractal dimension of the fractal.

# Area bisectors

There are an infinitude of lines that bisect the area of a triangle. Three of them are the medians of the triangle (which connect the sides' midpoints with the opposite vertices), and these are concurrent at the triangle's centroid; indeed, they are the only area bisectors that go through the centroid. Any line through a triangle that splits both the triangle's area and its perimeter in half goes through the triangle's incenter (the center of its incircle). There are either one, two, or three of these for any given triangle. Any line through the midpoint of a parallelogram bisects the area. All area bisectors of a circle or other ellipse go through the center, and any chords through the center bisect the area. In the case of a circle they are the diameters of the circle.

# Optimization

Given a wire contour, the surface of least area spanning ("filling") it is a minimal surface. Familiar examples include soap bubbles. The question of the filling area of the Riemannian circle remains open. The circle has the largest area of any two-dimensional object having the same perimeter. A cyclic polygon (one inscribed in a circle) has the largest area of any polygon with a given number of sides of the same lengths. A version of the isoperimetric inequality for triangles states that the triangle of greatest area among all those with a given perimeter is equilateral. The triangle of largest area of all those inscribed in a given circle is equilateral; and the triangle of smallest area of all those circumscribed around a given circle is equilateral. The ratio of the area of the incircle to the area of an equilateral triangle, $\frac$, is larger than that of any non-equilateral triangle. The ratio of the area to the square of the perimeter of an equilateral triangle, $\frac,$ is larger than that for any other triangle.Chakerian, G.D. (1979) "A Distorted View of Geometry." Ch. 7 in ''Mathematical Plums''. R. Honsberger (ed.). Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America, p. 147.