Heron's Formula in Python -- Naive

gistfile1.txt

Python 2.7.8 (default, Oct 18 2014, 12:50:18) 
[GCC 4.9.1] on linux2
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>>> def distance(p1, p2):
...     # this just uses the Pythagorean Theorem
...     x = (p1[0] - p2[0]) ** 2
...     y = (p1[1] - p2[1]) ** 2
...     return (x + y) ** 0.5
... 
>>> def herons(a, b, c):
...     # this uses Heron's Formula to get the area of a triangle with
...     # side lengths of a, b, and c
...     # https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron%27s_formula
...     s = (a + b + c) / 2.
...     return (s*(s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c))**0.5
... 
>>> p1, p2, p3 = ((3, 4), (7, 10), (11, 161))
>>> # side lengths:
... s1, s2, s3 = (distance(p1, p2), distance(p1, p3), distance(p2, p3))
>>> 
>>> herons(s1, s2, s3)
289.99999999999864