In this kind of a problem, it's helpful to draw out all information that's given. 

Because the triangular faces of a pyramid are isosceles triangles, the slant height can be seen to divide it into two right triangles. The goal is to find the measure of the edge of the square base. This quickly becomes a problem revolving around the use of the Pythagorean theorem. 

If we take the measures 12 and 8 to be the hypotenuse and one of the legs, respectively, we can use the Pythagoream theorem to solve for the "base leg." Then, realizing that this measure if only half of the the total length of the square base edge, that value must be multiplied by 2. 

 Therefore, 

The surface area of a square pyramid can be broken into the area of the square base and the areas of the four triangluar sides. The area of a square is given by:

The area of a triangle is:

The given height of 12 in is from the vertex to the center of the base. We need to calculate the slant height of the triangular face by using the Pythagorean Theorem: 

where   and   (half the base side) resulting in a slant height of 13 in.

So, the area of the triangle is:

There are four triangular sides totaling  for the sides.

The total surface area is thus , including all four sides and the base.

The surface area of this pyramid is equal to the area of the square base plus the areas of each of the four triangular sides.

We are given the base and height of the triangular faces.

We can use  and plug in 3 and 6, giving us .

Because the base of the triangular faces is equal to 3, we know the area of the square base is .

Therefore, our total surface area is equal to 

The equation for surface area of a rectangular pyramid is as follows:

Plug in the values for length, width and height:

To find surface area of a pyramid, simply find the surface area of each of the faces and add them together.

Since there are 4 trangular faces, we have to multiply that surface area by 4. Thus,

A square pyramid has one square base and four triangular sides.

Vertices (where two or more edges come together):  5. There are four vertices on the base (one at each corner of the square) and a fifth at the top of the pyramid.

Edges (where two faces come together):  8. There are four edges on the base (one along each side) and four more along the sides of the triangular faces extending from the corners of the base to the top vertex.

Faces (planar surfaces):  5. The base is one face, and there are four triangular faces that form the top of the pyramid.

Total

Volume of Pyramid = 1/3 * Area of Base * Height

12,000 ft³ = 1/3 * 30ft * 30ft * H

12,000  = 300 * H

H = 12,000  / 300 = 40

H = 40 ft

A helpful strategy for this kind of a problem is to ask the following:
What information am I missing?
What information am I given?
Can I calculate for an unknown variable with the information I have?

The formula given is composed of the Base Area times the height of the pyramid times one-third. This means that in order to find the volume of this pyramid, the area of the square base must be calculated as well as the height of the pyramid (represented by the dashed line in the center). This will allow us to get an answer with cubed feet for units - an inkling that the volume was being calculated and not just the area. So the given equation may be expanded into: . 

Calculating the base area:
Even though pyramids have a square base on which they're commonly seen to be standing on, the base area is calculated for the triangular face. Note that all the triangles are the same.  will be used to calculate the base area.

Calculating the height of the pyramid:
The height of the pyramid is slightly more tricky than calculating B. Imagine creating a right triangle within the pyramid, which resembles a slpice from the exterior of one of the sides of the pyramid to the center, where the height would be measured. Such triangle is outlined by the dash marks in the following figure:

The hypotenuse of this triangle would be the height of the triangular face. The pyramid's height becomes to be one of the legs of the triangle - this is our unknown, and may be labeled as x. The other leg of the triangle is 5ft because the leg only extends the length of half of the base of one of the triangles (from one edge to the center). 

Because there are no angles given and two sides of the right triangle can be deduced, x (h of pyramid) can be calculated through the Pythogorean Theorem. , where x=-3.3, +3.3. However, distance cannot be negative so x=-3.3 is not a viable option and the height is left to be as 3.3ft. 

Now all information may be substituted into the given equation to solve for the final volume:

When reading word problems, there are certain clues that help interpret what is going on. The word “is” generally means “=” and the word “times” means it will be multiplied by something. Therefore, “the length of a box is 3 times the width” gives you the answer: L = 3 x W, or L = 3W.

We notice the width is “5 inches less than three times its width,” so we express W as being three times its width (3L) and 5 inches less than that is 3L minus 5. In this case, W is the dependent and L is the independent variable.

W = 3L - 5