Investigations Blog
Q&A: The Definition of a Trapezoid
Question: Why did you decide to use the exclusive definition of a trapezoid?Answer: As the question suggests, there is more than one definition of a trapezoid. Mathematicians define trapezoids in one of two ways:Using the inclusive definition, all parallelograms (which include rectangles, squares, and rhombuses) are trapezoids. Using the exclusive definition, they are not.In determining which definition to use, we thought about a couple of things:Most elementary textbooks use the exclusive...
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