Imagine that a rectangular prism similar to the one shown has a scale factor of 1/2 . What is the volume of the new rectangular prism? (1 point) Responses 15 cm3 15 cm cubed 60 cm3 60 cm cubed 30 cm3 30 cm cubed 120 cm3

sides are 6 cm, 5 cm, 4cm

1 answer

To find the volume of the new rectangular prism after applying a scale factor of \( \frac{1}{2} \), we first need to calculate the volume of the original rectangular prism.

The volume \( V \) of a rectangular prism is given by the formula:

\[ V = \text{length} \times \text{width} \times \text{height} \]

In this case, the dimensions of the original rectangular prism are:

  • Length = 6 cm
  • Width = 5 cm
  • Height = 4 cm

Calculating the volume:

\[ V = 6 , \text{cm} \times 5 , \text{cm} \times 4 , \text{cm} = 120 , \text{cm}^3 \]

Now, since the new rectangular prism has a scale factor of \( \frac{1}{2} \):

  1. The volume of a prism changes with the cube of the scale factor. So we need to calculate the new volume as follows:

\[ \text{New Volume} = \text{Original Volume} \times \left( \text{Scale Factor} \right)^3 \]

Letting \( \text{Scale Factor} = \frac{1}{2} \):

\[ \text{New Volume} = 120 , \text{cm}^3 \times \left( \frac{1}{2} \right)^3 \]

Calculating \( \left( \frac{1}{2} \right)^3 = \frac{1}{8} \):

\[ \text{New Volume} = 120 , \text{cm}^3 \times \frac{1}{8} = \frac{120}{8} , \text{cm}^3 = 15 , \text{cm}^3 \]

Thus, the volume of the new rectangular prism is:

\[ \boxed{15 , \text{cm}^3} \]