How do you find the area of the base of a prism?

Answer by  Clement (1453)

In the most general case the base of a prism is just an n-sided polygon, so there is no general formula you can use. In certain cases, however, you know that the polygon is regular. Should this be the case you can calculate the are according to the following formula: 1/4 n*s^2 cot(pi/n), where s is the polygon's side.

Answer by  noguf (162)

The base is the bottom of the prism. You should get the dimensions of the bottom (length and width). Simply multiply those two numbers to get the value and the units is the square of the original units 5 meters x 4 meters = 20 meters squared.