Home/Sixth Grade Math/Week 26: Area/Lesson 7

Area of Trapezoids

A trapezoid has one pair of parallel sides. Its area uses both bases and height.

Lesson 7

Concept

Area formula: A = 1/2 x (b1 + b2) x h Where: - b1 and b2 are the parallel bases - h is perpendicular height Example: b1=8, b2=12, h=5 A = 1/2 x (8+12) x 5 A = 1/2 x 20 x 5 A = 50 square units Think of a trapezoid as an averaged-width rectangle: average base = (b1+b2)/2

Try it

Practice: Area of Trapezoids.