I have a surface area? my base is 18m, height is 4m and wisdth is 14m - do not understand the equation given by teacher of: top bottom, both sides and front and back to get answer - this does not make sense to me - please explain

Question

I have a surface area?  my base is 18m, height is 4m and wisdth is 14m - do not understand the equation given by teacher of: top bottom, both sides and front and back to get answer - this does not make sense to me - please explain

scott · Answer

18 times 4 times 14

Reiny · Answer

I will assume you have a rectangular "box"
area of top and bottom = 2(18)(14
area of front and back = 2(18)(4)
area of the two sides = 2(14)(4)

Add them up

Your teacher probably gave you
2(lw) + 2(lh) + 2(wh) , which is what I did above