Quadrilaterals (Rhombus, Parallelogram, Trapezium)

Nico and Nia are on a mission to sneak into a sweet factory. Luckily, they find an open window, so they climb inside. Nico spots a big button in the factory, but what is it for?

No Nico, you probably shouldn't. Oh look, now there's different shaped sweets coming out of the machine! Nico and Nia need to learn about Parallelograms, Rhombuses, and Trapeziums so they can sort the sweets into the correct boxes to avoid trouble!

"Quadrilaterals (Parallelogram, Rhombus, Trapezium)". A parallelogram, a rhombus, and a trapezium are all quadrilaterals. A "quadrilateral" is a "polygon with four straight sides." Parallelograms, Rhombuses, and Trapeziums are quadrilaterals that can be identified by their attributes, or properties. Let's learn about the properties of parallelograms before we help Nico and Nia. As you can see, a parallelogram can take many forms, like THESE shapes here. What is a property you notice parallelograms have?

All parallelograms have "Opposite angles" that are "EQUAL". THESE two angles are opposite and equal, and so are THESE two. Parallelograms also have "Two pairs of PARALLEL sides". PARALLEL lines never intersect, or cross each other. THESE two lines are parallel. And THESE two lines. "Parallelograms include rectangles and squares" to name some shapes that have two pairs of parallel sides. Now let's take a look at a Rhombus. What properties do we notice a Rhombus has?

Rhombuses have "Opposite angles" that are "EQUAL". THESE two angles are opposite and equal, and so are THESE two. Rhombuses also have "four sides ALL equal in length." THESE four sides are all equal in length. Finally, a rhombus also has "TWO pairs of parallel sides." THESE two lines are parallel. And the same HERE.

This means a rhombus can also be a parallelogram because it has TWO pairs of PARALLEL sides! Let's take a look at our last shape, a trapezium. What properties can you identify here?

Trapeziums have only "ONE pair of parallel sides". Can you find the parallel sides? THESE two lines are parallel because they do not cross or intersect! Trapeziums are NOT a type of parallelogram because THESE two sides will eventually intersect, or cross one another. A trapezium IS a type of quadrilateral, because it has FOUR sides. Now we can identify parallelograms, rhombuses, and trapeziums based on their properties, or attributes. Let's help Nico and Nia sort the three shapes of sweets before they cause a problem! First, we will start with THIS one. What properties do we notice?

It has opposite angles that are EQUAL and TWO pairs of parallel sides, but they are NOT all equal in length. Which box should it go in?

It needs to go in the PARALLELOGRAM box. Let's take a look at the second shape. What properties do you notice here?

It only has ONE pair of parallel sides because THESE two sides will eventually intersect. Based on the property we identified, which box should this sweet go in?

It needs to go in the TRAPEZIUM box because a trapezium has only ONE pair of parallel sides. Finally, we can sort the last shape. What properties do you notice?

It has opposite angles that are EQUAL. It also has four sides ALL EQUAL in length, plus two pairs of PARALLEL sides. Which box should this one go in?

It goes in the RHOMBUS box because a rhombus has opposite angles that are equal, and four equal sides that are parallel. Remember, Parallelograms, Rhombuses, and Trapeziums are quadrilaterals. PARALLELOGRAMS have opposite angles that are EQUAL and two pairs of PARALLEL sides. RHOMBUSES have opposite angles that are EQUAL and two pairs of PARALLEL sides. They also have four sides ALL equal in length. TRAPEZIUMS have only one pair of parallel sides. Phew, we helped Nico and Nia just in time! "Nia, don't put your hand too close to that machine!" Uh oh, too late. I wonder where Nia will end up?

Wait, what is Nico doing? "You're definitely not the right shape for this, Nia!"