![]() Firstly, note how we require here only one of the legs to satisfy this condition – the other may or may not. Secondly, observe that if a leg is perpendicular to one of the bases, then it is automatically perpendicular to the other as well since the two are parallel. With these special cases in mind, a keen eye might observe that rectangles satisfy conditions 2 and 3. Indeed, if someone didn't know what a rectangle is, we could just say that it's an isosceles trapezoid which is also a right trapezoid. Quite a fancy definition compared to the usual one, but it sure makes us sound sophisticated, don't you think?īefore we move on to the next section, let us mention two more line segments that all trapezoids have. The height of a trapezoid is the distance between the bases, i.e., the length of a line connecting the two, which is perpendicular to both. In fact, this value is crucial when we discuss how to calculate the area of a trapezoid and therefore gets its own dedicated section. The median of a trapezoid is the line connecting the midpoints of the legs. In other words, with the above picture in mind, it's the line cutting the trapezoid horizontally in half. It is always parallel to the bases, and with notation as in the figure, we have m e d i a n = ( a + b ) / 2 \mathrm \times h A = median × h to find A A A.Īlright, we've learned how to calculate the area of a trapezoid, and it all seems simple if they give us all the data on a plate. But what if they don't? The bases are reasonably straightforward, but what about h h h? Well, it's time to see how to find the height of a trapezoid. Let's draw a line from one of the top vertices that falls on the bottom base a a a at an angle of 90 ° 90\degree 90°. (Observe how for obtuse trapezoids like the one in the right picture above the height h h h falls outside of the shape, i.e., on the line containing a a a rather than a a a itself. Nevertheless, what we describe further down still holds for such quadrangles.) The length of this line is equal to the height of our trapezoid, so exactly what we seek. Hence, the surface area of this trapezoidal prism is 7 m × (7 m + 3 m) + 10 m × (4 m + 7 m + 4 m + 3 m) = 250 m².Note that by the way we drew the line, it forms a right triangle with one of the legs c c c or d d d (depending on which top vertex we chose). The last step is to compute the surface area using the following formula: The height of the trapezoidal prism is 7 m.įollowing the diagram, you can see the side a, side b, side c, and side d of the trapezoidal prism are 4 m, 7 m, 4 m, and 3 m respectively.Ĭalculate the surface area of the trapezoidal prism The same as before, the length of the trapezoidal prism is 10 m. You can calculate the surface area of a trapezoidal prism in four steps: The surface area is the sum of the areas of all the sides of an 3D object, incising its base and top.įor the surface area calculation, we will use the same trapezoidal prism as the last example. Hence, the lateral area of this trapezoidal prism is 10 m × (4 m + 7 m + 4 m + 3 m) = 180 m².Īfter understanding how to find the lateral area of a trapezoidal prism, let's talk about surface area. The last step is to compute the lateral area using the following formula: ![]() ![]() ![]() For this trapezoidal prism, these lengths are 4 m, 7 m, 4 m, and 3 m respectively.Ĭompute the volume of the trapezoidal prism You can see sides a, b, c and d in the diagram. In this example, the length of the trapezoidal prism is 10 m.įor our example, the height of the trapezoidal prism is 7 m.ĭetermine the lengths of sides a, b, c, and d You can calculate the lateral area of a trapezoidal prism in four steps: To understand the calculation of the lateral area of a trapezoidal prism, let's take the following trapezoidal prism as an example: Check out our rectangular prism calculator for more information. The lateral area is the sum of the areas of all the sides of an 3D object besides the base and the top.
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