Introduction

We are surrounded by right prism-shaped buildings (such as blocks of flats), while in nature, we can admire, for example, the fascinating oblique prism-shaped basalt tuffs of the Medves Plateau in the Bükk National Park, Hungary.

What is It Called?

If the parallel generators of a prism are not perpendicular to the plane of the base, then it is an oblique prism. In this case, the angle between the generators and the base is an acute angle, which is less than 90°. Its lateral faces are parallelograms. The prism is right if the generators are perpendicular to the plane of the base. The development of the lateral surface of a right prism is always a rectangle whose width is equal to the perimeter of the base, and its height is equal to the length of the generator.

How to Calculate?

It is already known that the surface area (SA) of a prism (right or oblique) is the sum of the areas of its bounding faces. However, when calculating the volume (V), in the case of an oblique prism, the height (H) is determined by constructing a perpendicular line to the base. If the prism is right, the height is equal to the length of the generator. The lateral area (LA) is equal to the sum of the areas of the lateral faces.

A=T_a+T_f+T_p
A=T_a+T_f+T₁+T₂+T₃+T₄+T₅
V=T_a·M