Trapezoid
A trapezoid is a geometric figure that lies in a plane. It is also a type of quadrilateral.
Definition
Trapezoids are characterized by having one pair of parallel sides. Notice that under this definition, every parallelogram is also a trapezoid. (Careful: some authors insist that a trapezoid must have exactly one pair of parallel sides.)
Terminology
The two parallel sides of the trapezoid are referred to as the bases of the trapezoid; the other two sides are called the legs. If the two legs of a trapezoid have equal length, we say it is an isosceles trapezoid. A trapezoid is cyclic if and only if it is isosceles.
The median of a trapezoid is defined as the line connecting the midpoints of the two legs. Its length is the arithmetic mean of that of the two bases 
. It is also parallel to the two bases.
Given any triangle, a trapezoid can be formed by cutting the triangle with a cut parallel to one of the sides. Similarly, given a trapezoid that is not a parallelogram, one can reconstruct the triangle from which it was cut by extending the legs until they meet.
Related Formulas
If 
denotes the area of a trapezoid, 
are the two bases, and the perpendicular height is 
, we get
![\[A=\dfrac{h}{2}(b_1+b_2)\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/7/1/4/7146502574283e0a452917be1b772223241b6e02.png)
