A trapezoid is a quadrilateral with two of the sides parallel, they do not have to be equal in length, and the adjacent sides are not parallel and do not have to be equal in length.
There is a formula to be used to calculate the area.
• The parallel sides are called bases
• You can find the area using the base lengths and the height
• If the bases measure 3cm and 8cm and the height is 6cm
• (3 + 8)cm = 11cm add bases together.
• Now measure the height of the trapezoid that happens to be 6cm
• Now multiply the length x height
• (11 x 6)cm = 66 cm
• But wait, there is more
• Next, you have to multiply the product by ½ or divide by 2 to get the actual area
• 66 cm2 / 2 = 33 cm 2