Math question

Question

What happens to the surface area of a rectangular prism if you double one dimension?

Answer 1

let the length of the three sides be a, b, and c.  The volume is:

 

     V = abc

 

Now let's double side a so it's 2a.  The new volume is:

 

     V_new = 2abc = 2V

 

where V is the original volume (V = abc).  So the volume doubles if you double one dimension.