Question

A cube-shaped box has edges

that are 6 centimeters long. The
box does not have a top. What is
the surface area of the box?

Answer 1

Surface area can be found by adding up the areas of each side of a 3D object.

The surface area of a cube can be found by finding the area of one side, and multiplying it by the number of sides. Typically a cube has 6 sides, but since this cube doesn’t have a top, it only has 5 sides.

Let’s find the area of one side of the cube:

Given one edge is 6 cm, and area of a square is (edge)^2,

A= 6^2 or 6 • 6 = 36 cm^2

Now multiply this area by the number of sides (5):

SA = 5 • 36 = 180 cm^2

The surface area of this cube is 180 cm^2.