You can use rational expressions to model some real-world situations.
Shopping You are choosing between the two wastebaskets that have the shape of the figures below. They both have the same volume. What is the height h of the rectangular wastebasket? Give your answer in terms of a.
Is there another way to solve the problem?
Yes. You can set the volumes equal to each other and then solve for h.
Step 1 Find the volume of the cylinder.
Step 2 Find the height of a rectangular prism with volume
The height of the rectangular prism is