TRAPEZOID

The trapezoid is a quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides.

arrows indicate one set of parallel sides
arrows indicate one set of parallel sides

The parallel sides of a trapezoid are called the bases. The height of a trapezoid is the perpendicular distance between the bases.

The area of a trapezoid is equal to the average of the bases times the height. Add the 2 bases, divide by 2 and then multiply by the height.

area =

((b1 + b2) / 2)h


external image trapezoid_1.gif

This may be a helpful website to find the area of a trapezoid.



If the two sides which are not parallel have equal lengths, then the trapezoid is called an isosceles trapezoid. The base angles in an isosceles trapezoid are equal in measurement.

A trapezoid is not a parallelogram because only one pair of sides are parallel.

Properties

- Four sides

- Four vertices (or corners)

- The interior angles add up to 360 degrees