Kitap 12
4
Hence also the parallelepipedal solids described from the said prisms are of equal height and are to one another as their bases; [XI. 32] therefore their halves, namely the said prisms, are to one another as the base LOC is to the base RVF. Q. E. D.
PROPOSITION 5.
5
Pyramids which are of the same height and have triangular bases are to one another as the bases.
5
Let there be pyramids of the same height, of which the triangles ABC, DEF are the bases and the points G, H the vertices; I say that, as the base ABC is to the base DEF, so is the pyramid ABCG to the pyramid DEFH.
5
For, if the pyramid ABCG is not to the pyramid DEFH as the base ABC is to the base DEF, then, as the base ABC is to the base DEF, so will the pyramid ABCG be either to some solid less than the pyramid DEFH or to a greater.
5
Let it, first, be in that ratio to a less solid W, and let the pyramid DEFH be divided into two pyramids equal to one another and similar to the whole and into two equal prisms; then the two prisms are greater than the half of the whole pyramid. [XII. 3]
5
Again, let the pyramids arising from the division be similarly divided, and let this be done continually until there are left over from the pyramid DEFH some pyramids which are less than the excess by which the pyramid DEFH exceeds the solid W. [X. 1]
5
Let such be left, and let them be, for the sake of argument, DQRS, STUH; therefore the remainders, the prisms in the pyramid DEFH, are greater than the solid W.
