75.1k views
4 votes
Explain when a trapezoid is not a parallelogram. Sketch an example.

User Rifinio
by
5.3k points

1 Answer

3 votes

A quadrilateral is a parallelogram if it has two pairs of parallel sides.

A quadrilateral is a trapezoid if it has one pair of parallel sides.

This implies that all parallelogram are trapezoid: if you have two pairs of parallel sides, you have one pair of parallel sides - you actually have more than required.

On the other hand, not all trapezoid are parallelogram: if you have one pair of parallel sides, you can't be sure that the other pair of sides will be parallel, too.

So, a trapezoid is not a parallelogram if it has only one pair of parallel sides, and the other two are not parallel.

Welcome to QAmmunity.org, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of our community.