501 Geometry Questions

Parallelograms

The dimensions of a parallelogram are referred to as the baseand heightas
drawn into the figure below. Notice that the height of BXis not the length
of one of the sides, but the length of the perpendicular line segment con-
necting the bottom base to the top base. This is always the case with the
height of parallelograms. The formula for the area of a parallelogram is base
times height.

Area of a Parallelogram = (base)×× (height), or A= bh

Trapezoids

Trapezoids have two different basesand a heightthat is drawn in the same
manner as the height of a parallelogram. The height connects the two bases
perpendicularly. The formula for the area of a trapezoid is one-half the
height times the sum of the two bases.

Area of a Trapezoid = ^12 (height)××(base 1 + base 2 ),

or A=^12 (h)××(b 1 + b 2 )

b 1

b 2

h

Base

Base

A

D C

B

X

height height

base

base

501 Geometry Questions