To find the surface area of a cube, we need to calculate the area of each face and then sum them up.
A cube has 6 faces, and since all the faces of a cube are identical squares, we can calculate the area of one face and multiply it by 6.
The formula to find the area of a square is side length squared (A = s^2).
Given that the edges of the cube are 48 centimeters long, each side of a face will also be 48 centimeters.
Therefore, the surface area (SA) of the cube is:
SA = 6 * (side length)^2
= 6 * (48 cm)^2
= 6 * 2304 cm^2
= 13824 cm^2
So, the surface area of the cube is 13824 square centimeters.