Question

Find the volume of a triangular prism with the following dimensions. Round to the nearest whole number. triangle base: 9 ft triangle height: 4 ft prism height: 9.5 ft

Answer 1

The correct answer to this question is 171. 
Multiply 9x4x9.5 and then divide by 2!

Answer 2

the prism looks more or less like the picture below.

so in essence, you simply get the area of the bottom, which is the triangle with base of 9 and height of 4, recall that A = 1/2 bh, and then multiply that much times the height of the prism, of 9.5.

$\bf \stackrel{\textit{area of the bottom}}{\left[ \cfrac{1}{2}(9)(4) \right]}\stackrel{\textit{height of the prism}}{(9.5)}$