Answer: The surface area of the rectangular prism is approximately 4 square yards.
Step-by-step explanation: Given that the volume of the rectangular prism is 160 cubic yards, we can find the dimensions of the prism using the formula:
V = lwh
where V is the volume, l is the length, w is the width, and h is the height.
So, we have:
160 = lwh
Now, we need to find two other measurements in order to calculate the surface area of the rectangular prism. However, we do not have enough information to find all three dimensions. Therefore, we will assume one dimension and find the other two.
Let's assume that the height of the rectangular prism is 10 yards. Then, we can rearrange the formula for the volume to solve for the product of the length and width:
lw = V/h = 160/10 = 16
Now, we have two equations:
lw = 16
wh = 160/10 = 16
Solving for w in the first equation, we get:
w = 16/l
Substituting this expression for w in the second equation, we get:
l(16/l)h = 16
Simplifying, we get:
h = 1
Therefore, the dimensions of the rectangular prism are:
length = l
width = 16/l
height = 10
Now, we can calculate the surface area of the rectangular prism using the formula:
SA = 2lw + 2lh + 2wh
Substituting the values we found, we get:
SA = 2(l(16/l)) + 2(l(10)) + 2((16/l)(10))
SA = 32/l + 20l + 160/l
To find the minimum value of this expression, we can take its derivative with respect to l and set it equal to zero:
dSA/dl = -32/l^2 + 20 + (-160/l^2)
0 = -32/l^2 + 20 - 160/l^2
52/l^2 = 20
l^2 = 52/20
l ≈ 1.44
Substituting this value of l back into the expression for SA, we get:
SA ≈ 4 square yards
Therefore, the surface area of the rectangular prism is approximately 4 square yards.