The base of the square pyramid shown has an area of 576 units². If the slant height of the pyramid is 20 units, what is the height of the pyramid?

1 answer

To find the height of the pyramid, we can use the formula for the slant height of a square pyramid, which is given by:

l = sqrt(h^2 + (1/2 * s)^2)

Where:
l = slant height
h = height of the pyramid
s = side length of the base of the pyramid

Given that the base of the pyramid has an area of 576 units^2, we can find the side length of the base by taking the square root of 576:

s = sqrt(576) = 24 units

Plugging in the values for s and l into the formula, we get:

20 = sqrt(h^2 + (1/2 * 24)^2)

20 = sqrt(h^2 + 144)

Squaring both sides to get rid of the square root:

400 = h^2 + 144

Subtracting 144 from both sides:

256 = h^2

Taking the square root of both sides:

h = 16 units

Therefore, the height of the pyramid is 16 units.