I would greatly appreciate any help I can get with this problem. I need to find the volume of a right triangular prism. The sides of the triangles measure 2cm and the length of the prism is 10cm. I found the surface area to be 64sq cm...is this correct? And can I somehow use that info to help find the volume? Thank you!

http://staff.argyll.epsb.ca/jreed/math8/strand3/3207.htm

Hi Ms. Sue! Although I do appreciate your help I am still having trouble with this problem because I am confused about how to find the height of the triangles. I did notice I mistakingly wrote that I was working with right triangles, they are equilateral.

Again, Thank you very much for your help.

To find the volume of a right triangular prism, you need to multiply the area of the triangle formed by the base with the length of the prism.

First, let's verify if the surface area you calculated is correct or not. The formula for the surface area of a right triangular prism is given by:

Surface Area = Area of the two bases + Area of the three rectangular faces

The base of the prism is a right-angled triangle with sides measuring 2 cm. To find the area of this triangle, use the formula:

Area = (base x height) / 2

In this case, the base of the triangle is 2 cm, and since it is a right-angled triangle, the height can be found using the Pythagorean theorem, which states that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides:

2^2 = a^2 + b^2

Substituting the known values, we get:

4 = a^2 + 2^2
4 = a^2 + 4
a^2 = 0
a = 0

Since the height of the triangle is 0, the area of the triangle is also 0. Therefore, the surface area of the prism should be recalculated.

To find the volume, we need the area of the triangular base. Since the base has an area of 0, the volume of the prism will also be 0.