A stack of rectangles - Math Central

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Question from ashwani, a parent:

Could you please advise the area of a rectangular pyramid.
There are 5 rectangles placed one above the other. The top most rectangle has length 2 cm and height 2 cm. The subsequent rectangles length is increased by 1 cm on both the sides, while the height of the 2nd and 3rd rectangle is 2cm each, while the 4th & 5th has a height of 3 cm each. Could you please let me know the the area of the figure and the formula to calculate
Rgds

Ashwani

Ashwani,

Is this the shape you have in mind?

pyramid

My diagram is not to scale and I have all the layers the same height but is this is the type of shape you have then it is composed of 5, non-overlapping rectangles. The area of a rectangle is the length times the height so find the area of each of the rectangles and sum them to find the area of the entire shape.

I hope this helps,
Penny

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