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  • Oct 3, 2009, 01:32 PM
    mathwiz3502
    An Ironic Algebra
    I'm just 12 years old but can anyone answer this question?
    What is the "three dimensional diagonal" of a rectangular prism with the dimensions
    3^4^12 (this is actually 7th grade math).:)
  • Oct 4, 2009, 06:23 AM
    Perito

    I assume this is 3 x 4 x 12. That makes it a rectangular solid (rectangular prism). I tried to draw one, but I'm art-challenged so here's a link to look at:

    Rectangular Prism

    The dimension you want is a line from the rear-left-bottom to the front-right-top. If you also draw a line along the base from the bottom-left-rear to the bottom-front-right you'll form a triangle using the right front edge of the prism. It's the diagonal of the triangle that you want to measure.

    Since the base is 3 x 4, the diagonal of the base is 5 (3-4-5 right triangle, or you can figure it out using the Pythagorean theorem).



    This is one leg of the resultant triangle. Since the height of the prism is 12, this forms a 5-12-X triangle. If you aren't familiar with the 5-12-13 right triangle, you can figure out the length, "X", from the Pythagorean theorem. The length of the "three dimensional diagonal" is given by

  • Oct 4, 2009, 11:52 AM
    mathwiz3502

    Very Good

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