Volume of a Prism
A prism is a polyhedron with two parallel, congruent faces called bases that are polygons .
The volume of a -dimensional solid is the amount of space it occupies. Volume is measured in cubic units ( , et cetera). Be sure that all of the measurements are in the same unit before computing the volume.
The volume of a prism is the area of the base times the height .
Note: A cubic centimeter ( ) is a cube whose edges measure centimeter.
Example:
Find the volume of the prism shown.
Solution
The formula for the volume of a prism is , where is the base area and is the height.
The base of the prism is a rectangle. The length of the rectangle is cm and the width is cm.
The area of a rectangle with length and width is .
So, the base area is or .
The height of the prism is cm.
Substitute for and for in .
Multiply.
Therefore, the volume of the prism is cubic centimeters.