How to measure some simple shapes for pricing glass art

Do you want to figure out the measurement of a shape for pricing an art glass piece?  We found this excellent reference information to share with our readers on the Old River Sod web page.

Circles are easy to figure out. Take the radius (that's half the distance across the middle of the circle) and square it. If the circle is 10 feet across take half of that (5) and multiply it by its self. 5 X 5 = 25 or 5² = 25Now take that number and multiply it by that magic Greek thing called Pi or 3.14. 25 X 3.14 = 78.5The area of a 10 foot diameter circle is 78.5 Square feet.	Circle's area = 3.14 X Radius²
Finding the area in a rectangle is simple. Multiply the short side by the long side. No fancy tricks, just length times width. If a rectangle was 3 feet wide and 5 feet long it would be 15 square feet. 3 X 5 = 15 Length X Width = Area	A rectangle's area = Short X Long
Right Triangles are kind of like rectangles with 1 extra trick. This only works with RIGHT triangles. That means that one corner has to be square (90°). Take the shortest side and multiply it by the medium length side. (You don't need to know the longest side.) Let's say it is 4 feet on the short side and 6 on the long. 4 X 6 = 24The area of the triangle is half of that. 24 ÷ 2 = 12	A triangle's area = (Short X Medium) ÷ 2
If your triangle isn't right (square) you've got to do twice the work! To find the area of an irregular triangle cut it into two pieces. Start at the corner opposite the longest side. Go straight towards the long side, making two triangles. Two RIGHT triangles. Now find the area for each one of the little triangles. Add them together to get the area of the weird triangle.	For irregular triangles make two right triangles.