Question

POSSIBLE POINTS: 5

Taina found the area of a table in the shape of a trapezoid. The height of the trapezoid is 10 ft, base one is 6 ft and base two is 5 ft. Taina says the area of the figure
is 110 square foot inches. What mistake did Taina make? What is the actual answer?

Answer 1

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Answer:

• wrong formula
• wrong units

Explanation:

The formula for the area of a trapezoid is ...

A = 1/2(b1 +b2)h

A = (1/2)(6 ft +5 ft)(10 ft) = 55 ft²

The numerical value of the answer would be 110 if we "forgot" to multiply by 1/2.

The area units would be "square foot inches" if inch dimensions crept into the problem somewhere.

It looks like Taina made two mistakes:

• didn't correctly use the correct formula
• didn't pay attention to area units