The document discusses the derivation of the formula for the area of a trapezoid. It begins by reviewing the formulas for the area of a triangle and parallelogram. It then shows that two trapezoids joined together form a parallelogram. Since a parallelogram's area is (base 1 + base 2) * height, and two trapezoids make one parallelogram, the area of a trapezoid must be half of that, or (base 1 + base 2) * height / 2. Examples are provided to demonstrate calculating the area of trapezoids using this formula.