Trapezoid Area

Free interactive math game: Trapezoid Area — Area = ½(a+b)h. Part of the Geometric Shapes category on MathKite.

Example problems

Taken from the generator that powers this exercise. A fresh set appears every time the page is opened, and the printable worksheet holds ten of them.

  1. a = 14 cm b = 5 cm h = 4 cm
  2. a = 9 cm b = 10 cm h = 14 cm
  3. a = 10 cm b = 5 cm h = 4 cm
  4. a = 6 cm b = 4 cm h = 14 cm

About this exercise

What a trapezoid covers, reached through the average of its parallel sides.

How to solve it

Add the two parallel sides, halve the total, then multiply by the height.

Worked example

Parallel sides of 6 and 10 with a height of 4 give (6 + 10) : 2 x 4 = 32.

Common mistake

Multiplying the two parallel sides together. They are averaged, not multiplied.