Jerry built a coffee table for his living room. his table, that also serves as storage bin, is in the shape of a trapezoid. he wants to build a shelf in the middle of the coffee table to separate his photo album storage from his magazines. the top opening of the box is 22 inches and the base of the box is 12 inches. how long should he make the shelf to fit in the middle?

The correct answer is 17 inches.

17 inches

Step-by-step explanation:

Given that jerry built a coffee table for his living room. His table, that also serves as storage bin, is in the shape of a trapezoid. He wants to build a shelf in the middle of the coffee table to separate his photo album storage from his magazines. the top opening of the box is 22 inches and the base of the box is 12 inches.

To make the trapezium into two halves he can draw a middle line from the mid points of the two non parallel sides.

Since base I =22 inches and base II = 12 inches we get

the middle line would be the average of the two bases

(Recall mid point theorem on triangles extended to trapeziums)

Hence we have the length required

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