Question

A baker is attempting to construct the world's largest cake. The cake is 12 meters square and 4 meters tall. How much surface area will the cake need to be iced (including the bottom)?

Answer 1

480 m².

Explanation:

A cake will be similar to rectangular prism i.e a solid (3-dimensional) object which has six faces that are rectangle.

Finding surface area for all rectangular prisms involves both addition and multiplication. so the surface area for the cake is given by:

surface area = 2(widthxheight) + 2(widthxlength) + 2(lengthxheight)

surface area = 2(12 x 4) + 2(12 x 12) + 2(12 x 4)

surface area = 96 + 288 + 96 = 480 m²

Therefore, the cake will need the surface area of 480 m² to be iced.

Answer 2

The area of the surface that needs to be iced is 480 m².

Explanation:

A cake has the same shape as a rectangular prism. A rectangular prism has six faces. The first one is formed by the length and the width, the second is formed by the length and the height and the third is formed by the width and the height, each of these faces is mirrored, so the surface area for the cake is:

surface area = 2*width*height + 2*width*length + 2*length*height

surface area = 2*12*4 + 2*12*12 + 2*12*4

surface area = 96 + 288 + 96 = 480 m²

The area of the surface that needs to be iced is 480 m².