SOLUTION: The edges of the bases of the frustum of a regular square pyramid have length 5 and 9, and the slant height of the frustum is 6. What is the volume of the frustum.

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Question 1137434: The edges of the bases of the frustum of a regular square pyramid have length 5 and 9, and the slant height of the frustum is 6. What is the volume of the frustum.
Answer by greenestamps(13200) About Me  (Show Source):
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The formula for the volume of a frustum of a pyramid with bases of areas A and B and height h is

%281%2F3%29%28AA%2BAB%2BBB%29h

You can easily find the areas of the two bases from the given information.

To find the height, form a right triangle using the height of the frustum as one leg and the slant height as the hypotenuse. You will need to do a bit of analysis to determine the length of the other leg (using the side lengths of the two bases). Then the Pythagorean Theorem will give you the height you need to calculate the volume of the frustum.