VOLUME OF A TRIANGULAR PRISM

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How Do You Find the Volume of a Triangular Prism?

Find the volume of the triangular prism below

SUMMARY

1. B stands for the area of the base
2. Since our bases are triangles, we can use (1/2)bh for B
3. We can call the height of the triangle h₁ and the height of the prism h₂ to avoid confusion
4. Volume is measured in units cubed, so we have 50 cm³

 

NOTES

1. 
    
   1. The volume of a prism is V=Bh
   2. B is the area of the base of the prism
   3. h is the height of the prism
   4. The base of our prism is a triangle, so we can use (1/2)bh, the area of a triangle, for B
   5. We can call the height of the triangle h₁ and the height of the prism h₂ to avoid confusion
2. 
    
   1. V is the volume, which is what we are trying to find
   2. b is the base of the triangle, which is 5 cm
   3. h₁ is the height of the triangle, which is 2 cm
   4. h₂ is the height of the prism, which is 10 cm
3. 
    
   1. We can plug 5 in for 'b', 2 in for 'h₁', and 10 in for 'h₂' in our equation
4. 
    
   1. We need to use the order of operations to simplify the right hand side
   2. First multiply 5•2 in the innermost parentheses
   3. Then multiply (1/2)•10 within the next set of parentheses
   4. This is the same as 10/2, or 5
   5. Then multiply 5•10 to get 50 cm³