# simple math? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2001, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-math/73542 "2001-07-23T15:56:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scraps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@scraps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scraps)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2001, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-math/73542/1 "2001-07-23T15:56:10Z")
Well, there is no “simple math” to me, so here goes… I was helping my ten old year with some math worksheets he brought home for the summer. It’s been a really long time since I’ve had to use any of these lost skills. Please, does anyone know the formula to find how many cubic feet of water a swimming pool that is 75ft long, 23ft wide and 6ft deep will hold? Wait, there’s one more. what do you call a shape that is square on the top and bottom and very narrow on all four sides? You know, like a patio brick. Maybe 12 x 12 x 2. I’m a stay at home mom. Can you tell I don’t get out much? scraps ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2001, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-math/73542/2 "2001-07-23T16:20:55Z")
For this particular shape of container, volume = L×W×H. 75ft × 23ft × 6ft = 10,350ft³ (10,350 cubic feet). The three dimensional object you are describing is called a **rectangular parallelepiped**. ---
**Author:** ![Kaje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kaje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaje)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2001, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-math/73542/3 "2001-07-23T16:32:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Attrayant \* > \*\ ***rectangular parallelepiped**. \*\* Now I’m flustered. I know there’s a simpler term for it. But for some reason all I can think of “right rectangular prism”. there’s no need to use such hideous words as parallelepiped with a 10 year old, he won’t need those until college. You could call it a rectangular solid or something along those lines. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2001, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-math/73542/4 "2001-07-23T17:11:02Z")
Call it a **PATIO BRICK** …:D… ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2001, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-math/73542/5 "2001-07-23T17:22:36Z")
Figures… soon as a submit my reply, I find a cool site with all of the basic stuff on it. [Here ya go.](http://mathforum.com/dr.math/faq/formulas/) Yes I thought that was odd that schools expect ten year olds to know such words, but couldn’t think of anything else (except for “patio brick”). In fact it was my remembering the word “parallelepiped” that helped me find the linked site. The names of regular solids are not commonly used words. Even when I was in geometry class, I remember the teacher asking us to calculate the area of “this object” and pointing to a picture or sketch on the black board. Even the names of the five perfect solids are not what I would call common household words: Tetrahedron Hexahedron Octahedron Dodecahedron Icosahedron Although since the hexahedron has a more common name (cube), I suppose the rectangular parallelepiped could have a more common name. Okay… [rectangular prsim](http://forum.swarthmore.edu/alejandre/escot/cube.prism.html) looks like a winner, too. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2001, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-math/73542/6 "2001-07-23T22:19:52Z")
Well, you could call it a “rectangular block”. A square block being a cube. But that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2001, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-math/73542/7 "2001-07-24T07:14:25Z")
In order to be accurate, you should probably call it a “right rectangular prism”, or, since its lateral cross-section is a square, a “right square prism”. Depending on how you define these terms, a “rectangular prism” could also be a sort of slanted box. If I were going to write a math problem with a shape with rectangular sides that was 12 × 12 × 2, I would call it a “square tile”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2001, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-math/73542/8 "2001-07-24T12:11:59Z")
Cuboid ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2001, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-math/73542/9 "2001-07-24T13:14:51Z")
As far as a ten year old should be concerned, “rectangular prism” or “rectangular solid” is just fine.