The volume of a quadrilateral prism is the amount of space that is contained within the 3-dimensional prism. It is calculated in a similar way to how you would calculate the area of a quadrilateral. You first calculate the area of the base of the quadrilateral with the equation of
t + b
2
h and then multiply that by the height of the prism
t represents the width of the top of the quadrilateral
b represents the width of the bottom of the quadrilateral
h represents the height of the bottom of the quadrilateral
For many quadrilaterals, like squares, rectangles, rhombuses, the width of the top and bottom are the same, so in that case, there is no need to find the average. For example, if you are determining the volume of a trapezoidal prism and the base has a height of 3, a base of 6, and a top of 4; and the prism has a height of 4
Calculate the average of the top and the bottom of the trapezoid by adding 6 and 4 and dividing by 2, which is 5
Multiply that by the height of 3, which means the area of the base is 15
Multiply that by the height of the prism, which means the volume of the prism is 60