Volume of Rectangular Prisms with Fractions
A rectangular prism is a 3-dimensional solid shape having 12 edges and 6 faces. This shape is given the name of a rectangular prism because of its rectangular base. It spreads in x, y, and z all three dimensions having length, width, and height.
Because of the involvement of these dimensions, it has a particular volume that can be measured quickly. Sometimes, the measure of one side is given in terms of the other side.
For example, the width of a rectangular prism is given as 2/3 of its length. In this regard, the measure of its one side is given in the fractional term. It makes the process to calculate the volume of rectangular prisms difficult.
But you can still solve it easily by following a few steps. This blog will highlight the steps that you have to take for finding the volume of a rectangular prism with a fraction.
What is the volume of a rectangular prism?
The volume of a rectangular prism is the total space it covers in all dimensions. It means that it is the space covered by its length, width, and height in the x, y, and z axes respectively. This particular measurement shows the space surrounded by the prism’s sides
As it involves three sides, the unit representing its volume will be the volume of the units in which measurements have been done. For example, if the measures of length, height, and width are given in meters, the unit of the volume will be “meter3 or m3”.
Find the Volume of Rectangular Prism
Calculating the volume of a rectangular prism is not a complex task if you are familiar with basic mathematical operations. You only have to use a rectangular prism volume formula for its calculation which involves the multiplication of its measures.
Here is the formula to follow for this calculation:
Volume of a Rectangular Prism = Length x Width x Height (cubic units)
In simple words, you only have to multiply the measure of length, width, and height to estimate the rectangular prism volume.
Use of fractions in a rectangular prism volume
It is common to get the measure of one side of a rectangular prism as the fraction of the other side. For example, if the width is half of its length, it will be represented as 1/2 of the length.
Also, it might be possible that you are getting fractional measurements for its sides. You must have to solve them first to find the volume.
No doubt, you can directly insert those values in the above formula to find the volume. But it may be tricky as you have to deal with division and multiplication side by side. So, it is good to solve the fraction first and then find the volume of a rectangular prism.
How to calculate the volume of a rectangular prism?
To explain the above process of finding the volume of a rectangular prism, we have solved an example here.
example1:
Find the volume of a rectangular prism if its measures are, length = 3/4 m, width = 5/9 m, and height = 2/5 m.
Solution:
We can either solve these fractions first to find their decimals or put them directly in the above formula. Let’s first solve the example directly without decimals conversion:
Volume of a rectangular prism = 3/4 × 5/9 × 2/5 m3
Volume of a rectangular prism = 1/6 m3
It is the volume of a rectangular prism in fractional format. We can also convert it to decimal format by dividing 1 by 6. So,
Volume of a rectangular prism = 0.167 m3
In the second method, we have to convert given fractions to decimals first and then multiply all of them to find the volume.
Conclusion
In the above blog, we have shared a comprehensive guide about the calculation of the volume of a rectangular prism with fractions. It might be possible that you are ready to do so manually and complete your work.
But if you are still unable to get the solution, you can use a volume of a rectangular prism calculator. You can get the final answer just by inserting the measurements you have for length, width, and height.
FAQ
How do I find volume with fractions?
You can find the volume with fractions by converting fractions to decimals or multiplying all fractional terms given for length, width, and height.
How can you find the volume of a rectangular prism with fraction edge lengths?
We can find the volume of a rectangular prism just by multiplying its length, width, and height. If the measurements are given in fractions, you can whether multiply them or first convert them to decimals.
What fraction of the rectangular prism volume is the pyramid volume?
The volume of a pyramid will be 1/3 of the total volume of the rectangular prism.
