Surface Area of a Prism Math Example 3

Follow the full solution, then compare it with the other examples linked below.

Example 3

easy
A cube has side length 7 cm. Find its surface area.

Solution

  1. 1
    Step 1: A cube is a special rectangular prism where all sides are equal. It has 6 faces, each a square of side 7 cm.
  2. 2
    Step 2: Area of one face =72=49= 7^2 = 49 cm². Total surface area =6×49=294= 6 \times 49 = 294 cm².

Answer

SA =294= 294 cm².
A cube has 6 congruent square faces. The surface area is simply 6s26s^2 where ss is the side length. This also fits the general prism formula with B=s2B = s^2, P=4sP = 4s, and h=sh = s: SA=2s2+4s⋅s=6s2SA = 2s^2 + 4s \cdot s = 6s^2.

About Surface Area of a Prism

The total area of all faces of a prism, found by adding the areas of the two bases and all lateral (side) faces.

Learn more about Surface Area of a Prism →

More Surface Area of a Prism Examples

Example 1 easy

A rectangular prism (box) has length 5 cm, width 3 cm, and height 4 cm. Find its surface area.

Example 2 medium

A triangular prism has a triangular base with base 6 cm and height 4 cm, and the prism's length is 1

Example 4 hard

A prism has a regular hexagonal base with side length 4 cm. The prism has height 10 cm. Find the sur

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