Area - Kites
(and Rhombuses)
The area of any kite is the same as a suitable rectangle divided by two.
You can use this to find the area of a rhombus, if you have the right dimensions.
First we draw a rectangle that just encloses the kite.
We can see that the red kite has been split into four smaller
triangles which are the same size as the adjacent blue triangles.
Obviously the area of the kite is half the area of the rectangle.
To work out the area of a kite we use a simple formula:
area = long diagonal x short diagonal ÷ 2
Notice that the dimensions are the diagonals which are perpendicular
[at right angles] and not the sides.
So for this kite:
area = 8 x 4 ÷ 2 = 16 cm²
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