Question

Find the area of trapezoid JKLM. Round the answer to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

from the diagram, we can see that the height or line perpendicular to the parallel sides is 8.5.

likewise we can see that the parallel sides or "bases" are 24.3 and 9.7, so

$\textit{area of a trapezoid}\\\\ A=\cfrac{h(a+b)}{2}~~ \begin{cases} h=height\\ a,b=\stackrel{parallel~sides}{bases}\\[-0.5em] \hrulefill\\ h=8.5\\ a=24.3\\ b=9.7 \end{cases}\implies \begin{array}{llll} A=\cfrac{8.5(24.3+9.7)}{2}\\\\ A=\cfrac{8.5(34)}{2}\implies A=144.5~in^2 \end{array}$