Question

You are an engineer for a company that produces shipping boxes. The boxes that are made on one machine are all in the shape of a cube. As the demand for different sizes of boxes changes, you need to be able to change the setting on the machine so you can vary the side length of the cube-shaped box. Draw a picture of a cube and label the cube's side length, s. Prior to placing your order for more cardboard, tape, and packing material, your boss asked you to determine each of the following:

Write an expression to determine the surface area of a cube-shaped box, SA​, in terms of its side length, s (in inches).
SA​= ___
What are the units for SA​?

Answer 1

To find the surface area of a cube-shaped box, multiply the length of one side by itself and then multiply by 6. The units for surface area are square units.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the surface area of a cube-shaped box, we need to find the total area of all six faces of the cube. Since all the faces of a cube are identical squares, we can find the area of a single face by multiplying the length of one side (s) by itself: Area of a single face = s * s = s^2. Since a cube has six faces, we can find the surface area (SA) by multiplying the area of a single face by 6: SA = 6 * (s * s) = 6s^2. The units for surface area (SA) will be square units, such as square inches (in²) or square centimeters (cm²).