What is the Surface area of a prism?

1 Answer
Apr 5, 2018

Without knowing the kind of prism (triangular, hexagonal, etc.), the surface area of a prism is the sum of the areas of its rectangular sides plus the area of its two ends.

Explanation:

Below is an image of a regular hexagonal prism. It has six rectangle sides and two hexagon ends. Its surface area is

#(6 xx "rectangle side") + (2 xx "hexagon end").#

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To find the surface area, you'd need to know the height of the rectangle, and the length of one side of the hexagon. It would also help to know the apothem (distance from centre of hexagon to the middle of an edge).

Please feel free to modify this question if there's a certain prism you'd like to know the surface area of.