Trapezoid

A trapezoid (American English) or trapezium (British English) is a quadrilateral two of whose sides are parallel to each other. (It is necessary that the two parallel sides be opposite; they cannot logically be adjacent....) If the other pair of opposite sides is also parallel, then the trapezoid is a parallelogram.\nOtherwise, the other two opposite sides may be extended until they meet at a point, forming a triangle that the trapezoid lies inside of. A quadrilateral is a trapezoid if and only if it contains two adjacent angles that add up to one straight angle, i.e., to 180 degrees or &pi radians. The area of a trapezoid can be computed as the product of the distance of the two parallel sides and the average (arithmetic mean) of the other two sides. This yields the well-known formula for the area of a triangle, were one to consider a triangle as a degenerate trapezoid in which one of the parallel sides has shrunk to a point. Note that a trapezium (American English) or trapezoid (British English) does not have two parallel sides.

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In acrobatics, the trapeze is a certain acrobatic device that is shaped like a trapezoid. In anatomy, the trapezoid bone is a certain bone in the hand. Category:Quadrilaterals \n\n