Question

find the height of a trapezoid with bases of 9 and 6 and area of 120.

Answer 1

Do you even worry about the area or is it just thrown in there to confuse you?

Answer 2

Yeah, you need the area so you can find the height. The area of a trapezoid is given by\[A=\frac{a+b}{2}h\]where 'a' and 'b' are your bases, and 'h' is the height. We have here one equation where, given any three of the variables, you can find the fourth. In your question, you're given the area, A, and the bases, a and b. So solve the above equation for height and plug in what you have:\[h=\frac{2A}{a+b}=\frac{2 \times 120}{9+6}=16\]