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Volume Calculator

Eight 3D shapes, one widget. Sister calculator to /math/area/.

Eight common 3D shapes are covered: rectangular prism (box), cube, sphere, cylinder, cone, pyramid, torus (donut), and ellipsoid. Inputs are unitless — the output is in the cube of whatever you typed in. Use feet in to get cubic feet, meters in to get cubic meters.

Volume
240.00

Output is in the cube of whatever linear unit you typed (meters in → cubic meters out, inches in → cubic inches out).

How to use

  1. Pick the shape

    Dropdown swaps the input fields. Each shape's parameters are labelled in standard textbook nomenclature (r for radius, h for height, etc.).

  2. Enter the measurements

    All in the same linear unit. The widget doesn't care which unit — meters, feet, inches — only that the inputs agree.

  3. Read the volume

    Result is in the cube of your input unit. 2 m × 3 m × 4 m = 24 m³; 6 in × 12 in × 8 in = 576 in³.

Formula reference

ShapeFormula
Rectangular prismV = l × w × h
CubeV = s³
SphereV = ⁴⁄₃ · π · r³
CylinderV = π · r² · h
ConeV = ⅓ · π · r² · h
Pyramid (rectangular base)V = ⅓ · l · w · h
TorusV = 2 · π² · R · r²
EllipsoidV = ⁴⁄₃ · π · a · b · c

Frequently asked questions

What unit does the result use?
Whatever you typed in, cubed. Meters in → cubic meters out. The widget intentionally doesn't pick a unit — most use cases involve a specific unit (cubic feet for HVAC, cubic meters for shipping containers, litres for tanks), and forcing one would just require an extra conversion.
How is cone volume one-third the cylinder?
Direct consequence of calculus. Integrate the area of a circular cross-section that shrinks linearly with height: ∫₀ʰ π(r·(1−z/h))² dz = π·r²·h/3. Same ratio holds for any pyramid relative to its bounding prism.
Does the torus formula need both radii?
Yes. R is the distance from the centre of the torus to the centre of the tube; r is the tube's own radius. A bagel-shaped torus has R > r; a doughnut-shaped (more circular cross-section) has R ≈ 2r. Set R = 0 and you don't get a sphere — you get an unphysical zero volume.
Does the calculator store my measurements?
No. Every computation runs in your browser.

About

Why these eight shapes

They cover ~95% of practical volume questions: boxes (storage, shipping, room dimensions), cylinders (tanks, pipes, columns), spheres (balls, planets, droplets), cones (funnels, decorative shapes), pyramids (architectural, geological), torus (donuts, magnetic-coil cross-sections), ellipsoids (planetary bodies, particle physics). Cuboids and cubes are common enough to deserve separate inputs.

Precision

Output uses IEEE 754 double precision throughout, with π evaluated to JavaScript's Math.PI (≈ 3.141592653589793). The widget rounds to 2-6 significant figures for display; the underlying value is full precision if you need it via the REST API.