Name: Maria
Person asking: Sub
level: high school


I am trying to build a box with an interior of 1.26 cu. feet with all sides equal. Please help... Thank you

Hi Maria,

The volume of a box is the length times the width times the height. The box you want has its length, width and height equal so if you call the length of the box x feet then the volume is x x x or x³ cubic feet. Hence you want to fid x so that

x³ = 1.26 cubic feet.

Your calculator may be able to calculate x for you by taking the cube root of 1.26 but you can also use the guess-and-check method.

Since x³ = 1.26 I know that x is larger than 1 so try x = 1.1.

1.1³ = 1.331 so 1.1 is too large.

Try x = 1.09

1.09³ = 1.295 so 1.09 is also too large.

Try another value.

Stephen and Penny