To correctly calculate the surface area of a triangular prism, we should consider the shape's components: the two triangular bases and the three rectangular lateral faces.
The triangular prism can be decomposed as follows:
- Two triangular bases (one on the top and one on the bottom).
- Three rectangular lateral faces (one for each side of the triangular base).
The surface area of the triangular prism is found by adding the areas of these components:
- The area contributed by the two triangular bases: \(2 \times \text{area of one triangle}\).
- The area contributed by the three rectangles (lateral faces): \(3 \times \text{area of one rectangle}\).
With this understanding, the correct description from your provided options would be:
Decompose the triangular prism into two triangles and three rectangles. Find the sum of the area of all five shapes.
This description recognizes the correct number of each type of face and implies summing their areas to find the total surface area.