Trapezoids

A trapezoid is a quadrilateral with exactly one pair of parallel sides. In a trapezoid the parallel sides are called bases and the nonparallel sides are called legs. Each trapezoid has two pairs of base angles.

The median of a trapezoid is the segment that joins the midpoints of its legs.

The median of a trapezoid is parallel to the bases, and the length of the median equals one-half the sum of the lengths of the bases.

A trapezoid with two non-parallel sides congruent is called an isosceles trapezoid.

The diagonals of an isosceles trapezoid are congruent.

To learn more about trapezoids, read the explanation below.

Trapezoids


Practice: Identify and use the properties of trapezoids and isosceles trapezoids by answering the exercises below.

Trapezoids 1

Trapezoids 2

Trapezoids 3