What Is Volume of a Rectangular Prism?
A rectangular prism, also called a cuboid or a box, is a three-dimensional shape whose six faces are all rectangles and whose edges meet at right angles. Its volume is the amount of space it encloses.
Because the prism is made of straight stacking layers, its volume is simply the area of the base (length × width) multiplied by the height. This equals length × width × height, and the result is measured in cubic units — cubic inches, cubic feet, cubic meters, and so on — matching whatever unit the three edges were entered in.
Formula
V = length × width × height = l × w × h
Applications
- Finding how much a shipping box or storage container holds
- Computing the volume of a concrete slab or soil bed
- Working out the capacity of a fish tank or aquarium
- Measuring the space inside a room or warehouse bay
Sources
- Stewart, J. (2015). Calculus: Early Transcendentals (8th ed.). Cengage Learning.
- Euclid. (c. 300 BC). Elements.