Trapezoid Activity

Materials:

Paper trapezoid, paper isosceles trapezoid, ruler, protractor, pencil

Questions:

1.      Fold the trapezoid to find the median.  How is the median related to the two bases?
The median is _______________ to the two bases.

2.      Measure the lengths of the two bases and the median.
Length of shorter base  _______________
Length of longer base  _______________
Length of shorter base + length of longer base _______________
(Length of shorter base + length of longer base) ¸2  _______________
Length of median  _______________

3.      Use your answers to 1 and 2 to complete the following theorem.
The median of any trapezoid is _______________ to the bases and has length equal to __________ the sum of the base lengths.

4.      Measure the base angles of the isosceles trapezoid. 
One base angle  __________          Other base angle  __________
Complete the following theorem.
Base angles of an isosceles trapezoid are _______________.