how to find volume of triangular prism

Unit 22 Section 6 : Volume of a Triangular Prism

This section looks at how to find the volume of a triangular prism.
You will need to remember how to find the area of a triangle in order to do this:

A triangular prism has the same triangular cross-section throughout its length.

Example Question

The diagram below shows a triangular prism:

(a) Calculate the volume of the prism if l = 5 cm.

Volume = area of cross-section × length
= 10 cm² × 5 cm
= 50 cm³

The volume is 50 cm³

(b) Calculate the volume of the prism if l = 2 m.

We need all the units to be cm or cm², so we need to convert 2 metres into 200 centimetres.

Volume = area of cross-section × length
= 10 cm² × 200 cm
= 2000 cm³

Practice Questions

Work out the answer to each of these questions then click on the button marked

to see whether you are correct.

Practice Question 1
Look at the triangular prism below.

Practice Question 2
The triangular prism opposite has a volume of 82 cm³.

The area of the end of the prism is A.

(a) Write down an equation involving A.

(b) Solve your equation to find the area of the end of the prism.

Exercises

Work out the answers to the questions below and fill in the boxes. Click on the

button to find out whether you have answered correctly. If you are right then

will appear and you should move on to the next question. If

appears then your answer is wrong. Click on

to clear your original answer and have another go. If you can't work out the right answer then click on

to see the answer.

You have now completed Unit 22 Section 6

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Produced by A.J. Reynolds May 2011