I am an adult who is not good in math--

I need to figure out what LXHXW I need to create a 1.5 cubic meter or 52 cubic foot volume--there is an answer in your database that relates to this..but it does not give the formula to go from cubic feet/inches to a measurement for a box.

Empirically I can figure out that 3 x 3 x 3 equals 27 and that 3.5 feet (42") x 3.5 x 3.5 equals 42.87 and 3.75 x 3.75 x 3.75 equals 52.73 which is about 1.5 cubic meters (1cubic meter = 52.971643 cubic feet) i.e a box 45 x 45x 45 "

There must be an easier way.

Konstanze

 

Hi Konstanze,

If you want to construct a box with a volume of 52 cubic feet then, as you said, you need the length (L), width (W) and height (H) to satisfy

L W H = 52

You are free to choose any numbers that work, for example

13 2 2 = 52

so you can make a box that is 13 feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep. Likewise

26 2 1 = 52

so you can build a box that is 26 feet long, 2 feet wide and 1 foot deep.

But you seem to want a box where the length, width and height are all the same measurement, so that the box is a cube. In that case you want a number x so that

x x x = x3 = 52

You tried x = 3, x = 3.5 and x = 3.75 feet. This is a perfectly good way to solve this problem, you have a sequence of approximations that are approaching the correct answer, and you stop when you are close enough. In your example 3.753 = 52.73 which is a little too large (you are out by 0.73 cu ft) so you might try 52.73 and get

3.733 = 51.90

which is a little too small, but only out by 0.1 cu ft.

Is there an easier way? That is, is there a way to find x if x3 = 52? If there is a "cube root" button on your calculator ( 3√ ) you can use it, otherwise your method is as good a any other. My calculator gave the cube root of 52 cubic feet as 3.7325 feet.

I hope this helps,
Penny