Calculating the Area of a Trapezoid | Formula and Example

Trapezoid

A trapezoid is a quadrilateral (a polygon with four sides) that has at least one pair of parallel sides

A trapezoid is a quadrilateral (a polygon with four sides) that has at least one pair of parallel sides. In a trapezoid, the parallel sides are called the bases, and the non-parallel sides are called the legs. The distance between the two bases is called the height or altitude of the trapezoid.

To calculate the area of a trapezoid, you can use the formula:

Area = (base1 + base2) * height / 2

Here, base1 and base2 represent the lengths of the parallel sides, and height is the perpendicular distance between the bases.

For example, let’s say we have a trapezoid with base1 measuring 5 units, base2 measuring 9 units, and the height measuring 4 units. To find the area, we can substitute these values into the formula:

Area = (5 + 9) * 4 / 2
= 14 * 4 / 2
= 56 / 2
= 28 square units

So, the area of the trapezoid is 28 square units.

Another important property of trapezoids is that the sum of the measures of the interior angles is always equal to 360 degrees. In a trapezoid, the two opposite angles formed by the bases are supplementary, meaning their measures add up to 180 degrees. The other two angles, which connect the bases with the legs, are called the legs’ angles, and they can have different measures.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions.

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