Calculate the Diagonal of a 7×10×4 Rectangular Prism: Space Geometry Problem

Question

Shown below is the rectangular prism ABCDA1B1C1D1 ABCDA^1B^1C^1D^1 .

Calculate the diagonal of the rectangular prism.

777101010444AAABBBCCCDDDAAA111BBB111CCC111DDD111

Video Solution

Solution Steps

00:00 Find the diagonal of the box
00:03 Let's use the Pythagorean theorem in triangle CC1D1 to find D1C
00:17 Let's substitute appropriate values according to the given data and solve for D1C
00:26 This is the length of side D1C squared
00:31 Now let's use the Pythagorean theorem in triangle BCD1 to find D1B
00:43 Let's substitute appropriate values according to the given data and solve for BD1
01:05 And this is the solution to the problem

Step-by-Step Solution

Let's look at face CC1D1D and use the Pythagorean theorem to find the diagonal of the face:

D1C12+CC12=D1C2 D_1C_1^2+CC_1^2=D_1C^2

Let's insert the known data:

102+42=D1C2 10^2+4^2=D_1C^2

116=D1C2 116=D_1C^2

Let's focus a bit on triangle BCD1 and use the Pythagorean theorem to find diagonal BD1:

D1C2+CB2=BD12 D_1C^2+CB^2=BD_1^2

Let's insert the known data:

116+72=BD12 116+7^2=BD_1^2

116+49=BD12 116+49=BD_1^2

165=BD12 165=BD_1^2

Let's find the root:

165=BD1 \sqrt{165}=BD_1

Answer

165 \sqrt{165}