Question

The area of a trapezium is 960 cm2. If the parallel sides are 34 cm and 46 cm, find the distance between them.

Answer 1

We know that,

Area of trapezium = 1/2 ( Sum of lengths of parallel sides) × distance between parallel sides

i.e., Area of trapezium = 1/2 ( Sum of sides) × distance between parallel sides

To calculate the distance between parallel sides we can rewrite the above equation as,

Distance between parallel sides = (2 × Area) / Sum of sides

= (2 × 960) / (34 + 46)

= (2 × 960) / 80 = 1920/80 = 24

∴ Distance between parallel sides = 24 cm