Final answer:
The surface area of a rectangular prism with the given dimensions of 2 cm, 10 cm, and 20 cm is calculated by summing the areas of all six faces, which results in a total surface area of 520 cm².
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the surface area of a rectangular prism with dimensions of 2 cm, 10 cm, and 20 cm, we need to find the area of all six faces and sum them up. A rectangular prism has three pairs of identical opposite faces. The areas of these faces are:
- Two faces with dimensions 10 cm by 20 cm (length × width): 2 × (10 × 20) = 400 cm²
- Two faces with dimensions 2 cm by 20 cm (height × length): 2 × (2 × 20) = 80 cm²
- Two faces with dimensions 2 cm by 10 cm (height × width): 2 × (2 × 10) = 40 cm²
Adding these areas together:
Surface area = 400 cm² + 80 cm² + 40 cm² = 520 cm²
The surface area of the rectangular prism is 520 cm².