Volumes of Prisms and Cylinders

Question

You are painting a room in your house. Unfortunately, you lost the lid to the 5 gallon bucket of paint, but you only used half of the paint. You want to save the paint, so you plan on transferring it to a new container. The new container is shaped like a rectangular prism. If there are originally 1,155 cubic inches of paint in the 5 gallon bucket, is your container big enough to fit the paint that is left over? Remember that half the paint is left in the bucket. 

Answer 1

"originally 1,155 cubic inches of paint in the 5 gallon bucket"

"used half of the paint" and "paint that is left over? Remember that half the paint is left in the bucket"

There is (1/2)1155 = 577.5 in³ left in the bucket.

The volume of the rectangular prism is 12*8*5 in³ = 480 in³

Will 577.5 in³ of paint fit in 480 in³ ?

Answer 2

The volume of the prism is its length times its width times its height. That means its volume is 12 in X 8 in X 5 in, or 480 cubic inches. That isn't enough volume to store all of your paint originally, but remember that only half of the paint is remaining, so we need to take half of 1,155 cubic inches. That leaves us with 577.5 cubic inches of paint, which is still too much to fit in your new container. So no, your container is not big enough.