Follow the steps to find the Surface Area of the square prism.

Shape: Rectangular Prism
2 cm, 6 cm and 8 cm
What is the area?
Top and bottom: [?]
Front and back: [?]
Sides: [?]
Total SA: [?]

1 answer

To find the surface area of a rectangular prism, you can use the following formula:

\[ \text{Surface Area} = 2lw + 2lh + 2wh \]

where \( l \) is the length, \( w \) is the width, and \( h \) is the height of the prism. In your case, you have dimensions of 2 cm, 6 cm, and 8 cm.

Let's assign the dimensions as follows:

  • Length (\( l \)) = 8 cm
  • Width (\( w \)) = 6 cm
  • Height (\( h \)) = 2 cm

Now we'll calculate the areas of each pair of faces.

  1. Top and Bottom:
    The area of the top and bottom faces is calculated as follows: \[ \text{Area (Top and Bottom)} = 2 \times (l \times w) = 2 \times (8 , \text{cm} \times 6 , \text{cm}) = 2 \times 48 , \text{cm}^2 = 96 , \text{cm}^2 \]

  2. Front and Back:
    The area of the front and back faces is calculated as: \[ \text{Area (Front and Back)} = 2 \times (l \times h) = 2 \times (8 , \text{cm} \times 2 , \text{cm}) = 2 \times 16 , \text{cm}^2 = 32 , \text{cm}^2 \]

  3. Sides:
    The area of the side faces is calculated as: \[ \text{Area (Sides)} = 2 \times (w \times h) = 2 \times (6 , \text{cm} \times 2 , \text{cm}) = 2 \times 12 , \text{cm}^2 = 24 , \text{cm}^2 \]

  4. Total Surface Area: Now, add all the areas together to find the total surface area: \[ \text{Total SA} = \text{Area (Top and Bottom)} + \text{Area (Front and Back)} + \text{Area (Sides)} = 96 , \text{cm}^2 + 32 , \text{cm}^2 + 24 , \text{cm}^2 = 152 , \text{cm}^2 \]

So, the final results are:

  • Top and bottom area: 96 cm²
  • Front and back area: 32 cm²
  • Sides area: 24 cm²
  • Total Surface Area: 152 cm²