overall: 2.5 cm x 15.2 cm x 2.5 cm; 31/32 in x 5 31/32 in x 31/32 in
Object Name:
Geometric Models
Place made:
United States: Ohio, Fremont
Date made:
ca 1895
Description:
This is the fourth in a series of models illustrating the volume of solids designed by William Wallace Ross, a school superintendent and mathematics teacher in Fremont, Ohio. It consists of two unpainted wooden square prisms. A paper label on one of them reads: Four Oblong or Square Prisms. As both this label and Ross’s manual for his models suggest, two of the pieces of this model have not survived.
Ross took the fundamental unit of measure of rectangles to be one square inch, and the fundamental unit of measure for solids to be one cubic inch. He argued from there that a 1” x 6” rectangle had an area of 6 square inches (see 1985.0112.191). Similarly, he found that both of these solid models consisted of 6 cubic inches. Two in a row would had twice the volume, or 12 cubic inches. From this, he generalized that the volume of a rectangular solid was equal to the area of the base times the altitude.
Object 1985.0112.207 is also shown in the image.
Compare models 1985.0112.205 through 2012.0112.217. For further information about Ross models, including references, see 1985.0112.190.