AMDG VOLUMES OF SOLIDS

We focus on prisms which are solids with a constant cross-section.

What is meant by constant cross-section? Consider a loaf of sliced bread. As each

slice is removed, what remains is the surface of the next slice of bread which is the
same as the slice that’s been removed. For solids, the surface area would be
exactly the same. (You have probably come across the term cross-section in map
work in geography.)

View https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJwecTgce6c
(Apologies for the Imperial units of inches in the one example.)

Where he speaks of volume = base area X ht

I prefer V = cross-sectional area X ht

For your note book

A prism is a solid with a constant cross-section.

The cross section is the shape of the surface revealed as the solid is slices through
at right angles to a specific surface.

This diagram shows the The cross-section of

Ignore the three different cross- a cylinder is a circle-
sections of a cuboid. same shape as size
The grey shape is not the the top or the base.
cross-section; the cross-
would lie in the plane but would
have the same area as the face
of the cuboid parallel to it.

Volume of a prism = cross-sectional area X ht