Question

The wading pool shown is a trapezoidal prism with a total volume of 286 cubic feet. What is the missing dimension? First base: 8ft. Second base: 13 ft. Height: 2 ft

Answer 1

To find the missing dimension you will use the formula for finding the volume of a prism and solve for the missing dimension.  In this case 2ft is how deep the pool is and you will solve for the width of the pool.

V = Bh, where B is the area of the base.  In this case, use the area of a trapezoid formula.

286 = 1/2h(8 +13)2
286 = 21h
21      21
h = 13.6

The width of the wading pool is approximately 13.6 feet.