Key learning points

1. The surface area of a 3D shape is the sum of the area of all the faces.
2. The net of a prism can help find the surface area of a prism but can be time consuming.
3. By using known area facts, the area of all the faces can be found and summed.
4. It is important to find the surface area systematically and efficiently.

Keywords

• Prism - polyhedron with base and identical parallel opposite side with corresponding edges joined by parallelograms.

• Faces - Faces are the flat 2D surfaces of a 3D shape.

• Nets - The net of a 3D object is a 2D representation of its faces that can be folded up into the 3D object.

• Surface area - The surface area is the total area of all the surfaces of a closed 3D shape. The surfaces include all faces and any curved surfaces.

Common misconception