A little disconcertingly I generated the data of a triangle with integral sides in a spreadsheet. The area calculation suggested that it had zero area.

Knowing there was an obvious contradiction I wrote a computer listing to see if there were others which fitted this situation, and yes, there was an infinite number.

Clearly I am doing something wrong, explain.

(In reply to Removal? by brianjn)

Why would you want this removed? 

The problem as stated makes sense.   We have two comments with sensible solutions.  

I've actually used this type of trick with my students:  Heron's formula is a pain to derive but easy to use, right?  Ok find the area of a 8-13-21 triangle.  Then see who realizes they needed to apply some basic geometry to understand the result.

A great D1 problem.

Posted by Jer on 2010-01-01 14:15:17