Pyramids for Dummies

Hexagonal pyramid

If there's a form of freelance dumbassery that the Antisocial Network staffers detest most, it's probably the failure to gently inform someone that he or she has asked a stupid question. The second most might be the tendency of some dumbass freelancers to confuse specific with general. Lucky us: today's DotD nominee, eHow.com contributor Tasos Vossos, checked off both boxes with his Sciencing.com post, "How to Calculate the Volume of a Triangle." Opa, Tasos...

Just about everyone we asked this question at the office looked at us all funny. Most immediately said, "You meant 'volume of a pyramid,' right? Because triangles are two-dimensional objects and don't have volumes." Well, Vossos never says that; hence the "failure to educate" someone who asks a stupid question.

Tasos next explains that to calculate the volume of a pyramid, his readers must,

1. Measure the width and length of the base...
2. Multiply the width by the length, to calculate the base area[, B]...
3. Measure the pyramid's height (h)...
4. Apply the formula V=Bh/3...

By doing so, Vossos checks off box number two, confusing the specific with the general. What do we mean by that? Tasos makes the (ridiculous) assumption that the pyramid in question is four-sided, like the pyramids at Giza or the Transamerica Tower. Unfortunately, not all pyramids are four-sided! Pyramids can have any number of sides: a tetrahedron is a pyramid with three sides, a cone is essentially a pyramid with an infinite number of sides. The formula Tasos cites – 

V = (B * h) / 3

– is correct (even for the cone), but his method of calculating B only works for rectangular pyramids. And while he's at it, Tasos really should have given a better definition of h than

"...the line that forms a right angle with the base, while connecting top and bottom..."

...perhaps mentioning that the pyramid can be oblique, such that the apex isn't even in the same vertical plane as any point on the base. But that would have required extra work, more research, and an explanation that the freelancer understood. None of those apply, but he does warn his readers to "Never forget to use squares [sic] units... when you're referring to area..." And that's just one more reason why we do hereby bestow upon Mr. Vossos the singular title of Dumbass of the Day. We repeat, "Opa"...

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