A prism is a polyhedron, or solid figure that has congruent polygons as bases and has parallelograms (often rectangles) for lateral faces. Prisms are the same size and shape from bottom to top.
Want to know more about prisms?
Click on the image to open an applet to use for this investigation. The applet will open in a new browser tab or window.
Follow the exploration to determine the number of cubes it will take to fill a box that measures 5 units by 4 units by 3 units. (Typically, this is written in mathematical shorthand using the multiplication symbol, ×, which is read as "by" – so 5 × 4 × 3 is read, "5 by 4 by 3.")
In the sketch, the wide rod (second button, just beneath the cube) represents a row of cubes that is the width of the box. The deep rod (third button beneath the cube) represents a row of cubes that is the depth of the box.
Answers & Comments
Answer:
A prism is a polyhedron, or solid figure that has congruent polygons as bases and has parallelograms (often rectangles) for lateral faces. Prisms are the same size and shape from bottom to top.
Want to know more about prisms?
Click on the image to open an applet to use for this investigation. The applet will open in a new browser tab or window.
Follow the exploration to determine the number of cubes it will take to fill a box that measures 5 units by 4 units by 3 units. (Typically, this is written in mathematical shorthand using the multiplication symbol, ×, which is read as "by" – so 5 × 4 × 3 is read, "5 by 4 by 3.")
In the sketch, the wide rod (second button, just beneath the cube) represents a row of cubes that is the width of the box. The deep rod (third button beneath the cube) represents a row of cubes that is the depth of the box.
Explanation: