Do the diagonals of a trapezoid bisect each other? - Answers

No, never. A trapezoid may have diagonals of equal length (isosceles trapezoid), but they do not intersect at their midpoints.Draw the diagonals of a trapezoid, for example, an isosceles trapezoid, thereby creating 4 triangles inside the trapezoid. Now assume the diagonals do bisect each other. The congruent corresponding sides of the top and bottom triangles with the included vertical angle would make the triangles congruent by the side-angle-side theorem. But this is a contradiction since the respective bases of the triangles, forming the top and bottom of the trapezoid are, of course, not equal. Therefore, the triangles cannot be congruent. Hence, we have given proof by contradiction that diagonals in a trapezoid cannot bisect each other.