I don't understand this.
a is not suppose to be -1; this is the only rule in the equation
The answer is the second picture, I just don't know the steps that lead to that answer.
S is the area. You move one of the diaganals to the side, then that forms a triangle. Then with Heron's formula you figure out the area of the triangle that has formed (AMC). That is suppose to help you figure out the area of the parallelogram using another formula, but I couldn't figure it out.