Find the area of a trapezium whose parallel sides are 11 m and 25 m long and the nonparallel sides are 15 m and 13 m long.
Given:
AB (say) = 11 cm
DC (say) = 25 cm
AD (say) = 15 cm
BC (say) = 13 cm
Draw AE ∥ BC
Now the trapezium is divided into a triangle ADE and a parallelogram AECB.
Since, AECB is a parallelogram
Therefore, AE = BC = 13 cm
And, AB = EC
DE = DC – EC( = AB) = 25 – 11 = 14 cm
Now,
We know that,
Area of a scalene triangle (∆AED) = √(s(s-AE)(s-ED)(s-AD))
Where,
⇒ s = 21 cm
Now,
Area of a scalene triangle = √(21cm × (21-13)cm × (21-14)cm × (21-15)cm)
= √(21cm × 8cm × 7cm × 6cm)
= √7056 cm2
= 84 cm2
Also,
Area of a triangle = 1/2 × base × height
⇒ 84 = 1/2 × 14 × height
⇒ height = 12 cm
Now,
Area of a parallelogram = base × height
= 11 cm × 12 cm
= 132 cm2
Now,
Area of Trapezium ABCD = Area of ∆ADE + Area of a parallelogram ABCE
= 84 cm2 + 132 cm2
= 216 cm2