

Also, the other side of one of the pairs is equal to the first base edge, say l, and the other is equal to the length of the second one, which is w. All of those have one side equal to h, the lateral edge (or the height) of the prism. What is more, among the four, there are two pairs of identical ones (the front and back wall and the left and right wall). We have four faces contributing to that number, and all of them are rectangles. Piece of cake, wasn't it? Well, let's now try to do something a little bit more complicated and move on to the lateral area. And that is precisely the formula for the base area: With our notation, it is a rectangle with sides l and w, so its area is l × w. Now, let's use that information to study the base of our prism.

Recall that all the faces in our calculator are rectangles, and, as mentioned in the rectangle area calculator, they are calculated by multiplying the side lengths. Surface_area = 2 × base_area + lateral_area, Therefore, since the solid has two bases (the bottom one and the top one), the surface area of a rectangular prism formula is as follows: On the other hand, A_l denotes the lateral area, meaning the total area of the four lateral faces. Note that A_b denotes the surface area of a single base of our prism.
Surface area of a rectangular prism how to#
Time to put the high-brow words aside and focus on how to find the surface area of a rectangular prism. Lastly, the sides of each rectangle are called edges (again divided into base edges and lateral edges). The bottom and top faces of the box are called bases, and each of the other four is called a lateral face. Note that this, in particular, means that there are three pairs of identical faces placed on opposite sides of the solid.Īlso, as with any other scientific definition, there are a few fancy names associated with the prism. Well, that is a rectangular prism! Or do you remember those drawings of houses that we did in kindergarten? Remove the angular roof, and you're left with another example of a rectangular prism.įormally (mathematically), a right rectangular prism is a solid where all six sides are rectangles that are perpendicular to one another.
Surface area of a rectangular prism full#
A regular, rectangular box, just like the ones you see in the supermarket, full of whatever products. Round your answers to the nearest hundredth.įind the value of \(x\), given the surface area.Before we see what the surface area of a rectangular prism is, we should get familiar with the prism itself.


Describe the difference between lateral surface area and total surface area.Find the total surface area of the prism.Find the lateral surface area of the prism.What are the dimensions of each of the lateral faces? What are their areas?.What shape are the bases of this prism? What are their areas?.
