Section 7.3 – Surface Area and Volume of Pyramids

Pyramid – a polyhedron consisting of a base (polygon), and 3+ lateral faces.

Vertex – the intersection of the lateral faces

altitude – a segment that has endpoints in the planes containing the bases and is perpendicular to both planes

height – the length of the altitude

slant height – the length of the altitude of the lateral face

regular – pyramid whose base is a regular polygon

Surface Area of a Pyramid may be broken down into 2 parts: Base Area and Lateral Area

Pyramids are classified (named) by the shape of their base.

Surface Area and Volume Formulas

Regular Pyramid:

where B is the Base Area, P is the Perimeter of the base, h is the height, and is the slant height