A possibly oblique square pyramid with base length l and perpendicular height h has volume:

${\displaystyle V={\frac {1}{3}}l^{2}h}$ .

In a right square pyramid, all the lateral edges have the same length, and the sides other than the base are congruent isosceles triangles.

A right square pyramid with base length l and height h has surface area and volume:

${\displaystyle A=l^{2}+l{\sqrt {l^{2}+4h^{2}}}}$ ,

${\displaystyle V={\frac {1}{3}}l^{2}h}$ .

The lateral edge length is:

${\displaystyle {\sqrt {h^{2}+{{l^{2}} \over {2}}}}}$ ;

the slant height is:

${\displaystyle {\sqrt {h^{2}+{{l^{2}} \over {4}}}}}$ .

The dihedral angles are:

• between the base and a side:

${\displaystyle \arctan \left({{2\,h} \over {l}}\right)}$ ;

• between two sides:

${\displaystyle \arccos \left({{-l^{2}} \over {l^{2}+4\,h^{2}}}\right)}$ .

If all edges have the same length, then the sides are equilateral triangles, and the pyramid is an equilateral square pyramid, Johnson solid J₁.

The Johnson square pyramid can be characterized by a single edge length parameter l.

The height h (from the midpoint of the square to the apex), the surface area A (including all five faces), and the volume V of an equilateral square pyramid are:

${\displaystyle h={\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}}}l}$  ,

${\displaystyle A=\left(1+{\sqrt {3}}\right)l^{2}}$ ,

${\displaystyle V={\frac {\sqrt {2}}{6}}l^{3}}$ .

The dihedral angles of an equilateral square pyramid are:

• between the base and a side:

${\displaystyle \arctan {{\big (}{\sqrt {2}}{\big )}}\approx 54.73561^{\circ }}$ .

• between two (adjacent) sides:

${\displaystyle \arccos \left({-{\frac {1}{3}}}\right)\approx 109.47122^{\circ }}$ .

A square pyramid can be represented by the wheel graph W₅.

Square pyramids fill space with tetrahedra, truncated cubes, or cuboctahedra.^[2]

Dual polyhedronEdit

The square pyramid is topologically a self-dual polyhedron. The dual's edge lengths are different due to the polar reciprocation.

• Eric W. Weisstein, Square pyramid (Johnson solid) at MathWorld.
• Weisstein, Eric W. "Wheel graph". MathWorld.
• Square Pyramid -- Interactive Polyhedron Model
• Virtual Reality Polyhedra georgehart.com: The Encyclopedia of Polyhedra (VRML model)