GlossariesGCSE GlossariesGCSE Maths GlossaryTrapezium

Trapezium - GCSE Maths Definition

Reviewed by: Dan Finlay

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A trapezium is a polygon - a quadrilateral (so has four straight edges and four angles) - but has the distinct property that it has one pair of parallel sides. The distance between these parallel sides is often called the height of the trapezium. In some problems, you might need to find the area of a trapezium, which you can do using the formula:

A equals 1 half h open parentheses a plus b close parentheses

where A is the area, h is the height of the trapezium, and, a and b are the lengths of the two parallel sides.

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Dan Finlay

Reviewer: Dan Finlay

Expertise: Maths Subject Lead

Dan graduated from the University of Oxford with a First class degree in mathematics. As well as teaching maths for over 8 years, Dan has marked a range of exams for Edexcel, tutored students and taught A Level Accounting. Dan has a keen interest in statistics and probability and their real-life applications.

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