Triangle UVW, with vertices U(-5,5), V(-4,7), and W(-9,8), is drawn on the coordinate grid below.

The area formula of a triangle given the coordinates of the vertices :
[tex]U(-5,5),V(-4,7),W(-9,8)[/tex][tex]A=\lvert\frac{U_x(V_y-W_y)+V_x(W_y-U_y)+W_x(U_y-V_y)}{2}\rvert[/tex]Using the formula above, the area will be :
[tex]\begin{gathered} A=\lvert\frac{-5(7-8)-4(8-5)-9(5-7)}{2}\rvert \\ A=\lvert\frac{5-12+18}{2}\rvert \\ A=\lvert\frac{11}{2}\rvert \\ A=\lvert5.5\rvert \\ A=5.5 \end{gathered}[/tex]The answer is 5.5 square units