Trapezoid facts for kids
A trapezoid is a special type of quadrilateral. A quadrilateral is simply any shape that has four straight sides. What makes a trapezoid special is that it has at least one pair of sides that are parallel. Parallel sides are lines that will never meet, no matter how far they are extended.
In North America, this shape is called a "trapezoid." However, in places like Britain, it's known as a "trapezium." It's just a different name for the same cool shape!
How to Find the Area of a Trapezoid
Finding the area of a trapezoid means figuring out how much flat space it covers. Imagine you want to paint a trapezoid-shaped wall; the area tells you how much paint you'll need.
To calculate the area, you need to know three things:
- The length of its two parallel sides (let's call them a and b).
- The height (let's call it h), which is the straight distance between the two parallel sides.
Here's the formula you can use:
This formula means:
- Add the lengths of the two parallel sides (a + b).
- Divide that sum by 2.
- Multiply the result by the height (h).
And that's how you find the area of any trapezoid!
Images for kids
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Trapezoids can look different! The orange shapes are also parallelograms, which are a type of trapezoid.
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The Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has trapezoid shapes in its design.
See also
In Spanish: Trapecio (geometría) para niños
