think about a plan

Question

You are building a square pyramid out of clay and want the height to be 0.5 cm shorter that twice the length of each side of the base. If you have 18cm³ of clay, what is the greatest height you could use for your pyramid?

• How can drawing a diagram help you solve this problem?
• What is the formula for the volume of a pyramid?
• What equation can you solve to find the height of the pyramid?

Answer 1

s represents the side of the base

2s - 0.5 represents the height

 

18 = (1/3)s²(2s - 0.5)       Volume of pyramid

 

Can you solve for s and answer the question?