Question

Find the area of the trapezoid below.

Answer 1

Answer: 54 cm²

Step-by-step explanation: In this problem, we're asked to find the area of the trapezoid shown. A trapezoid is a quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides.

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

`Area =(1)/(2) (^(b) 1 + ^(b)2)h`

The b's represent the bases which are the parallel sides and h is the height.

So in the trapezoid shown, the bases are 6 cm and 12 cm and the height is 6 cm. Plugging this information into the formula, we have
`(1)/(2) (6 cm +12cm)(6 cm)`.

Next, the order of operations tell us that we must simplify inside the parentheses first. 6 cm + 12 cm is 18 cm and we have
`(1)/(2)(18 cm)(6 cm)`.

`(1)/(2) (18 cm)` is 9 cm and we have 9 cm · 6 cm of 54 cm²

So the area of the trapezoid shown is 54 cm².