For a square pyramid, the volume is given by which expression?

• A. 1/3 b h^2
• B. 1/3 b h
• C. 1/3 b^2 h
• D. 1/3 h^2 b

Answer: (B)

Volume of a pyramid is one-third of the base area times the height. For a square base with side length b, the base area is b^2, so the volume is (1/3) × b^2 × h. This aligns with the idea that volume comes from a base area (length^2) multiplied by a height (length), giving a result in cubic units, scaled by the pyramid’s shape factor 1/3. The expression with only b h misses the base area, and forms like b h^2 or h^2 b involve height in the wrong way, not reflecting how the base area and height combine to give volume.