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The parallel sides are called the bases of the trapezoid. The other two sides are called the legs (or the lateral sides) if they are not parallel; otherwise, the trapezoid is a parallelogram, and there are two pairs of bases. A scalene trapezoid is a trapezoid with no sides of equal measure, [3] in contrast with the special cases below.
Note that a non-rectangular parallelogram is not an isosceles trapezoid because of the second condition, or because it has no line of symmetry. In any isosceles trapezoid, two opposite sides (the bases) are parallel, and the two other sides (the legs) are of equal length (properties shared with the parallelogram), and the diagonals have equal ...
This is a list of two-dimensional geometric shapes in Euclidean and other geometries. For mathematical objects in more dimensions, see list of mathematical shapes . For a broader scope, see list of shapes .
One pair of opposite sides is parallel and equal in length. Adjacent angles are supplementary. Each diagonal divides the quadrilateral into two congruent triangles. The sum of the squares of the sides equals the sum of the squares of the diagonals. (This is the parallelogram law.) It has rotational symmetry of order 2. The sum of the distances ...
The word trapezoid almost exclusively and almost ubiquitously denotes a shape with two parallel sides, even in the UK where trapezium is more commonly used with this meaning for the quadrilateral. Both terms have been used in the past for a shape with no parallel sides, but it is a hundred years since this usage was common in the UK.
Any of the sides of a parallelogram, or either (but typically the longer) of the parallel sides of a trapezoid can be considered its base. Sometimes the parallel opposite side is also called a base, or sometimes it is called a top, apex, or summit. The other two edges can be called the sides.
In a convex quadrilateral all interior angles are less than 180°, and the two diagonals both lie inside the quadrilateral. Irregular quadrilateral (British English) or trapezium (North American English): no sides are parallel. (In British English, this was once called a trapezoid. For more, see Trapezoid § Trapezium vs Trapezoid.)
The formula for the area of a trapezoid can be simplified using Pitot's theorem to get a formula for the area of a tangential trapezoid. If the bases have lengths a, b, and any one of the other two sides has length c, then the area K is given by the formula [2] (This formula can be used only in cases where the bases are parallel.)