Question

Jorge plans to paint a bedroom wall that is shaped like a trapezoid. The bottom edge of the wall is 22.5 feet long, and the top edge of the wall is 9.5 feet long. If the wall is 8 feet tall, what is the area of the wall?

Answer 1

Length of the bottom edge of the wall (a) = 22.5 feet
Length of the top edge of the wall (b) = 9.5 feet
Height of the wall (h) = 8 feet
Then
Area of the wall = [(a + b)/2] * h
= [ (22.5 + 9.5)/2] * 8 square feet
= (32/2) * 8 square feet
= 16 * 8 square feet
= 128 square feet
As can be seen from the above deduction, the area of the wall is 128 square feet. I hope the procedure is not complicated for you to understand. You can normally use this method in future for solving similar type of problems without requiring any additional help.