Isosceles trapezoid
Isosceles trapezoid
Video: What is an Isosceles Trapezoid?
Alternatively, it can be defined as a trapezoid in which both legs and both base angles are of the same measure. Note that a non-rectangular parallelogram is not an isosceles trapezoid because of the second condition, or because it has no line of symmetry. In any isosceles trapezoid two opposite sides (the bases) are parallel, and the two other sides (the legs) are of equal length (properties shared with the parallelogram). The diagonals are also of equal length. The base angles of an isosceles trapezoid are equal in measure (there are in fact two pairs of equal base angles, where one base angle is the supplementary angle of a base angle at the other base).
Special cases
Special cases of isosceles trapezoids
Rectangles and squares are usually considered to be special cases of isosceles trapezoids though some sources would exclude them.
Another special case is a 3-equal side trapezoid, sometimes known as a trilateral trapezoid or a trisosceles trapezoid. They can also be seen dissected from regular polygons of 5 sides or more as a truncation of 4 sequential vertices.
Video: Quadrilaterals - Trapezoids, Parallelograms, Rectangles, Squares, and Rhombuses
Self-intersections
Any non-self-crossing quadrilateral with exactly one axis of symmetry must be either an isosceles trapezoid or a kite. However, if crossings are allowed, the set of symmetric quadrilaterals must be expanded to include also the crossed isosceles trapezoids, crossed quadrilaterals in which the crossed sides are of equal length and the other sides are parallel, and the antiparallelograms, crossed quadrilaterals in which opposite sides have equal length.
Every antiparallelogram has an isosceles trapezoid as its convex hull, and may be formed from the diagonals and non-parallel sides of an isosceles trapezoid.
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| Convex isosceles trapezoid |
Crossed isosceles trapezoid |
antiparallelogram |
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Characterizations
If a quadrilateral is known to be a trapezoid, it is not necessary to check that the legs have the same length in order to know that it is an isosceles trapezoid (nor, under the definitions given in Wikipedia, is it sufficient, since a rhombus is a special case of a trapezoid with legs of equal length, but is not an isosceles trapezoid as it lacks a line of symmetry through the midpoints of opposite sides); any of the following properties also distinguishes an isosceles trapezoid from other trapezoids:
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The diagonals have the same length.
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The base angles have the same measure.
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The segment that joins the midpoints of the parallel sides is ....
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