Use the image to answer the question.

An illustration shows a 3 D triangular prism with the triangular face as a right triangle. The edges that are not visible are represented by dashed lines. The length and base of the triangular prism measures 15.9 centimeters and 8.9 centimeters. The perpendicular side of the triangular face measures 5 centimeters and the other side measures 16.7 centimeter.

A wooden door stopper needs to be covered with stickers to match the door for a directing contest. If one package of stickers covers a surface area of 75 square centimeters, how many packages of stickers need to be purchased? (Find the closest number to the surface area of the door stopper. Stickers may only be purchase in whole packs.)

You will need 6 packages of stickers..

You will need 7 packages of stickers.

You will need 414.14 cm2 packages of stickers..

You will need 5.5 packages of sticker

1 answer

To determine how many packages of stickers are needed to cover the surface area of the wooden door stopper shaped like a triangular prism, we need to calculate the total surface area of the prism first.

The surface area \( S \) of a triangular prism can be calculated using the formula:

\[ S = 2A + P \cdot h \]

where:

  • \( A \) is the area of the triangular base,
  • \( P \) is the perimeter of the triangular base, and
  • \( h \) is the height (or length) of the prism.
  1. Calculate the area \( A \) of the triangular base:

The triangular base is a right triangle with:

  • Base \( b = 8.9 \) cm,
  • Height \( h_t = 5 \) cm.

The area \( A \) is given by:

\[ A = \frac{1}{2} \times b \times h_t = \frac{1}{2} \times 8.9 \times 5 = 22.25 \text{ cm}^2 \]

  1. Calculate the perimeter \( P \) of the triangular base:

The last side of the triangle \( c \) can be found using the Pythagorean theorem:

\[ c = \sqrt{(8.9)^2 + (5)^2} \] \[ c = \sqrt{79.21 + 25} = \sqrt{104.21} \approx 10.21 \text{ cm} \]

Now, the perimeter \( P \) is:

\[ P = b + h_t + c = 8.9 + 5 + 10.21 = 24.11 \text{ cm} \]

  1. Calculate the total surface area \( S \):

The length of the prism (height of the prism) \( h = 15.9 \) cm.

Now plug in the values into the surface area formula:

\[ S = 2A + P \cdot h \] \[ S = 2(22.25) + (24.11)(15.9) \] \[ S = 44.5 + 383.749 = 428.249 \text{ cm}^2 \]

  1. Determine the number of packages needed:

Each package covers 75 cm². To find the number of packages needed:

\[ \text{Number of packages} = \frac{S}{\text{Area covered by one package}} = \frac{428.249}{75} \approx 5.7 \]

Since packages can only be bought in whole numbers, we round up to the nearest whole number:

So, you need 6 packages of stickers.

Answer: You will need 6 packages of stickers.