Surface Area of

Solids
Thesurface areaof a solid
object is a measure of the
totalareathat
thesurfaceof an object
occupies.

Surface Area of a right

triangular prism

SA = wh + lw + lh + ls
The variables in this
formula stand for:

Surface Area of a right

triangular prism

Find the surface area of this right triangular

prism. Dimensions are in feet.
SA
SA
SA
SA

=
=
=
=

wh + lw + lh + ls
5(6)+9(5)+9(6)+9(7)
30+45+54+63
192 ft

Surface Area of A
Cube

Thesurface areaof a cube with side

s is:
SA=6s2

Surface Area of A Rectangular

Prism

To find the surface area of a rectangular

prism, add the areas of its flat surfaces:

Area of top and bottom rectangles (bases)

area of
left, right, front and back rectangles (lateral
areas)

Thesurface areaof a rectangular prism is

the area of 2 bases + sum of the areas of
the lateral faces.
SA=2B+LA

Example:
Find the surface area of a rectangular
prism whose length is 7cm, width 4cm,
and thickness, 5cm.
2 bases 2x(7x4)=56
4 lateral faces 2x(5x7)=70
2x(5x4)=40
166cm2

Surface Area of A Regular Square

Pyramid

A square pyramid is a
polyhedron with a square
base and 4 triangular
faces. All the triangular
faces meet at a single
point called the apex. The
faces of the pyramid
connect the bases with the
apex. Surface Area of a
Square Pyramid is the sum
of the surface area of the
square base and the

The Surface Area of a Square Pyramid

Formula is,
Where
b is the side length of the square base of the
square pyramid.
s is the slant height of the face of the square
pyramid.
Or

The surface area of a cylinder can be

found by breaking it down into three parts:
The two circles that make up the ends of
the cylinder.
The side of the cylinder, which when
"unrolled" is a rectangle

The surface area of a right cylinder is:

Or

A cylinder has a radius of 13 cm and a height

of 22 cm. Find it's surface area.
Solution:
In this problem:
r = 13 cm
d = 26 cm
h = 22 cm
pi = 3.14
SA = 2r2+ 2rh
SA = 2()(132) + 2[()(13)(22)]
SA = 1061.858 + 1796.991
SA = 2858.85 cm2

Surface area of a right circular cone

The first step in finding the surface area
of a cone is to measure the radius of the
circle part of the cone. The next step is to
find the area of the circle, or base. The
area of a circle is pi times the radius
squared (r2). Now, you will need to
find the area of the cone itself. In order to
do this, you must measure the side (slant
height) of the cone.

You can now use the measurement of the

side to find the area of the cone. The formula
for the area of a cone is pi times the radius
times the side (rl).
So the surface area of the cone equals the
area of the circle plus the area of the cone
and the final formula is given by:
SA = r2+ rl

Example:
Find the total surface area of a right cone if
the radius is 6 inches and the slant height is
10 inches.
T. S. A. = (6)2+ (6)(10)
= 36 + 60
301.59 inches2

Surface Area of a Sphere

The surface area of a sphere of radius 'r' is
given by:
surface area = 4r2
NOTE: The value ofpcan never be known
exactly, so surface areas of spheres cannot
be calculated exactly. Common
approximations forpare: 3.14, and22/7.

Exercises:
Find the surface of area of the ff.
solids:
2) A cube with s= 2.2 cm.

2) A cylinder with h=15 cm,

r=3.2 cm

3) A rectangular prism with L=12cm,

w=7cm,
and h=6cm.

4) A square pyramid with side (b) =

4.2cm, slant height (s) = 7cm.

5) A sphere with radius of 2.5 cm.

6) A cone with r=5cm, l=12 cm

(slant height)

7) A cube with S= 0.9m

8) A rectangular pyramid with

L=5cm, w=3.3cm, h=9cm (slant h.
Assume that slant h is equal in all 4
sides of the pyramid.

Day 2
Evaluation: Find the surface area of
the ff:
1)

2)

3)

4)

5) Find the surface area of a square

pyramid with base length 3cm and
vertical height 5cm.
Hint: use Pythagorean theorem to
solve for slant height.

6) A spherical ball has a surface

area of 2464 cm2. Find the radius of
the ball.

Assignment
Research and review about volume
of solids.