How to Calculate the Volume of a Rectangle

Volume is the measure of how much space an object takes up. Essentially, volume calculates how much air fits inside a three-dimensional object. It is calculated in cubic units. The volume of a rectangular prism is easy to calculate.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Calculator

Calculating Volume

1. Write down the formula for calculating the volume of a rectangular prism. The formula is: volume equals length times width times height.

2. Measure the length of the rectangular prism if it is not given. Length of a rectangular prism is the longer edge of the object. For convenience of this article, we will use 10 as the length.

3. Measure the width of the rectangular prism. The width of a rectangular prism is the shorter edge of the object. For convenience of this article, we will use five as the length.

4. Measure the height of the rectangular prism. The height of the rectangular prism is how tall the object stands. For convenience of this article, we will use three as the height.

5. Plug in the numbers for length, width and height into the formula for volume and calculate the numbers. In this example, the volume of the rectangular prism would be 10 times five times three. Calculating these numbers yields the volume of 150 cubic units.

Who Can Help Sponsored

• Earn your degree from industry experts at University of Phoenix. Take the next step in your career.