[Math] Find height of a triangle given length of three sides

geometrytriangles

How can I find the height of a triangle given the length of all three sides?

The only solution I could find was to use Heron's formula to find area then $A=\frac{1}{2}bh$ to find height. Is there an easier way to do this?

I'm going to be using this in a piece software I'm developing, so a simple solution makes things much easier.

Best Answer

Besides the solution you stated using Heron's formula, you can use the Law of Cosines to find one of the angles. The height is then easily obtained by dropping the appropriate perpendicular and using the definition of cosine.