How to find the area of trapezium.
Area Of A Trapezium Video
A trapezium is a 4 shaded shape with one pair of parallel sides. In order to find the area of a trapezium follow these simple steps:
Step A Add together the parallel side lengths.
Step B Times this answer by the perpendicular distance between the parallel sides.
Step C Half the answer from step B.
Alternatively, you can use the formula A = (a+b)×h/2
(a and b are the lengths of the parallel sides and h is the perpendicular distance between them)
Let’s take a look at an example.
Example 1
Calculate the area of this trapezium.
Answer
Step A 7+11=18
Step B 18 × 5 = 90
Step C 90/2 =45 cm2
If you use the formula method then all you need to substitute the values a=7, b=11 and h=5 into the formula to find the area of the trapezium.
A = (a+b)×h/2
A= (7+11)×5/2
A= 45 cm2
Extra Tips
If you are still stuck, try remembering the rhyme:
“Half the sum of the parallel sides, and times the distance between them, this is how you find the area of a trapezium”