Area of Trapezoid - Building from what we already know

See instructions below.

Observe the trapezoid in the applet carefully before playing with the slider. In particular notice that there are two bases.[br][br]Play with the slider for a bit (move the slider slowly to see what is happening) and observe how the trapezoid becomes a different shape.

1. From your observations

Describe what happens when the slider is moved to the end, in particular:[br]a) What is the new shape?[br]b) What happened to the original height [math]h[/math] of the trapezoid?

2. A bit of thinking...

[color=#000000]In the trapezoid [/color][color=#000000]above, suppose base1 = 6 cm, base2 = 3 cm, and height = 5 cm.[br]What would the area of the trapezoid[/color][color=#000000] be? [br][/color]Explain how you found this value.

3. Making sense of the area in your own terms

Without looking up the formula on another tab in your internet browser, describe below, [i][b]in your own words[/b][/i], how you could find the area of ANY TRAPEZOID in terms of both its bases and its height.

4. Applying your understanding 1

Which one?

Select the answer that matches the area you just found from the choices below.

423 [math]cm^2[/math] 846 [math]cm^2[/math] 153 [math]cm^2[/math] 4320 [math]cm^2[/math]

5. Applying your understanding 2

What is the area of the trapezoid above? Units are in m

161 [math]m^2[/math] 483 [math]m^2[/math] 483 [math]m[/math] 966 [math]m^2[/math]