Derivation of Volume Formula for Square Pyramid and Frustum Steve Keith http://www.baselines.

com

The height (H) of this square based pyramid is 15 feet from the apex to the center of the bottom base square. This paper will show how to derive the formula for the volume of the pyramid, and will also show how to calculate the volume of the frustum, which is the shaded section of the pyramid. The length of one side of the base will be called A. In this example, A=10 feet. The length of one side of the top of the frustum will be called B. In this example, B=5 feet.

We will calculate the volume of the whole pyramid, and then the volume of the smaller top pyramid (minus the frustum). Then we will subtract the volume of the top pyramid from the volume of the whole pyramid to get the volume of the frustum. Volume of the whole pyramid To derive the formula for this volume, we will define a horizontal thin slab, find the volume of that slab, and add all the slabs that make up the pyramid up by integrating. The slab volume at the bottom of the pyramid will be the area of the square times the incremental height y.

In order to get things into a condition where we can perform this integration, we have to determine what the size of each square slab will be as we go from 0 to the height of 15 feet. The slabs will definitely get smaller as we progress up the pyramid. The trick to remember is the law of similar triangles. Keeping this in mind we know there is a linear proportional relationship that allows us to specify any slab volume in terms A and H. For example, where the slab is defined by B, it is at a certain height Y above the ground. That relationship is shown below.

Notice we are using a linear ratio of the height without Y to the overall height. We can do this because of linear similar triangles. To test this out, set Y to 0 and you

find that the length of one side of the slab is A. Then set Y to H and you see that the length of a side of the slab is 0 which happens at the top of the pyramid. Now that we know that, we can set up our integral. We let the slab width approach 0 and then y will become .

Well express the volume of a slab in terms of the constants A and H and of Y which is the changing variable we will integrate. We square the side length to find the area of one face of the slab and multiply it by dy to get the volume of the slab.

Doing the integration, this becomes:

This is evaluated for y between 0 and H, and reduces to the formula for the volume of a pyramid:

In our example this comes out to be 500 cu. ft. We can use the formula we derived above to find the volume of the smaller pyramid. We define K as the height of this smaller pyramid.

So the volume of the frustum must be:

Now the only thing left to do is to get this volume in terms of A, B and the height of the frustum, which we will call M.

The overall height is H, so K=H-M. Using the linear ratio for similar triangles, using M as the height,

So

Plugging M into the equation for K (K=H-M) we find,

In our example, K = 7.5 ft. This makes M=7.5 feet as well as expected. From this we now know that the volume held by the top pyramid is 62.5 cu. Ft.

Plugging K back into our Volume equation for the frustum:

This is good, but it would be hard to measure H for the frustum, so it is best to put this equation in terms of the frustum height, M. We can do this by rearranging the equation we saw earlier:

So

Plugging this in:

Simplifying

Factoring

Reducing

This is the volume of the frustum in terms of the height the top side length and the bottom side length. For our example, the volume held by the frustum is 437.5 cu. ft. As a check, we calculated 500 cu. ft. for the whole pyramid, 62.5 cu. ft. for the top pyramid and 437.5 cu. ft. for the frustum. 437.5 + 62.5 adds up to 500. While this is better, it would be good to be able to use the slant height rather than the height. The slant height can be more easily measured from the bottom corner of the frustum to the top corner.

Using Pythagorean Theorem to find C.

Using all measurable parameters, this is the volume of the frustum.

To check this out, calculate for our example. C = 12.5. S=8.291561976. You get 437.5 which the same as our earlier result.