Trapezoid facts for kids

A trapezoid (in North America) or trapezium (in Britain and elsewhere) is a quadrilateral, which is defined as a shape with four sides, which has one set of parallel sides. In North America, they call a trapezium as an irregular quadrilateral by people outside of North America.

Calculating area

To calculate the area of a trapezoid, you must add the two parallel sides together, divide that by 2, then times that by its height.

$A = \frac{a + b}{2} \cdot h$

Images for kids

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  Trapezoid special cases

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  Example of a trapeziform pronotum outlined on a spurge bug

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  The Temple of Dendur in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City