How to find the volume of a prism

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GRE Quantitative Reasoning › How to find the volume of a prism

Questions 1 - 1

A rectangular prism has a width of 3 units, a length that is twice the width, and a height that is two-thirds the length. What is the volume of the prism?

Explanation

Remember, the formula for the volume of a rectangular prism is width times height times length:

$V=w\cdot h\cdot l$

Now, let's solve the word problem for each of these values. We know that . If length is double the width, then the length must be 6 units. If the height is two-thirds the length, then the height must be 4:

$6\cdot \frac{2}{3}=4$

Multiply all three values together to solve for the volume:

$V=w\cdot h\cdot l$

$V=3\cdot 4\cdot 6$

The volume of the rectangular prism is units cubed.