All SAT Math Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #3 : Pyramids
The volume of a 6-foot-tall square pyramid is 8 cubic feet. How long are the sides of the base?
Volume of a pyramid is
Thus:
Area of the base is .
Therefore, each side is .
Example Question #2 : Pyramids
A right pyramid with a square base has a height that is twice the length of one edge of the base. If the height of the pyramid is 6 meters, find the volume of the pyramid.
18
12
6
24
30
18
If the height, which is twice the length of the base edges, measures 6 meters, then each base edge must measure 3 meters.
Since the base is a square, the area of the base is 3 x 3 = 9.
Therefore the volume of the right pyramid is V = (1/3) x area of the base x height = 1/3(9)(6) = 18.
Example Question #52 : Solid Geometry
Find the volume of the pyramid shown below:
The formula for the area of a pyramid is . In this case, the length is , the width is , and the height is .
and .
Example Question #4 : Pyramids
Figure not drawn to scale
In the pyramid above, the base is a square. The distance between points C and D is 6 inches and the length of side b is 5 inches. What is the volume of this pyramid?
To find the volume of a pyramid, you need to use the equation below:
To find the height (shown by the yellow line), we can draw a right triangle using the yellow line, blue line and side b (5 inches). Because the hypotenuse is 5 inches, using the common Pythagorean 3-4-5 triple. The blue line is 3 inches and the yellow line (height) is 4 inches. Also, to find side a, we can use the blue line (3 inches) and half of the red line (3 inches) and the Pythagorean Theorum.
Because the base is a square, the area of the base is equal to the square of side a:
Now we plug in these values to find the volume:
Example Question #3 : Pyramids
Calculate the volume of the rectangular pyramid with height , base width , and base length
The volume of a rectangular pyramid with height , base width , and base length is given by
.
For this pyramid, , , and To calculate its volume, substitute the values for , , and into the formula:
Therefore, the volume of the given rectangular pyramid is