The finite element method is applied to the free transverse vibration of circular plate. The assumptions of the classical plate theory are app_lied in deriving the basic equations required for the solution of the problem. The triangular bending element used in describing the bending of the plate is characterized with only nine degrees of freedom. Consequ-ently the transverse deformation of the element is expressed by a poly-nomial interpolation function of third order. Using the area coordinate system, the expression for each of stiffness and mass matrices is derived in more convenient form. Simplification processes are used in the derivation of these matrices using a transfor-mation matrix. A complete modal analysis for the plate is obtained by a constructed computer program written with FORTRAN-IV language. Fortunately this triangular element gave good results with respect to those obtained by the exact method.