What is the formula for calculating the area of a triangle?

The formula for calculating the area of a triangle is given by 1/2 times the base times the height. This means that to find the area, you multiply the length of the base (one side of the triangle) by the height (the perpendicular distance from the base to the opposite vertex) and then take half of that product. This formula is derived from the concept that a triangle can be thought of as half of a parallelogram, where the area of a parallelogram is simply the base times height.

While base times height accurately describes the total area of a parallelogram, for a triangle, you need to take that total and divide it by two, hence the presence of the 1/2 in the formula. This relationship highlights the unique geometric properties of triangles compared to other two-dimensional shapes.

The other options reflect various mathematical expressions but do not accurately represent the area of a triangle as comprehensively as the correct formula does.