

We see this in the formula for the area of a triangle, ½ bh. It is important that you capitalize this B because otherwise it simply means base. Notice that big B stands for area of the base. To find the volume of a prism, multiply the area of the prism’s base times its height. Now that we have gone over some of our key terms, let’s look at our two formulas. Remember, regular in terms of polygons means that each side of the polygon has the same length. The height of a prism is the length of an edge between the two bases.Īnd finally, I want to review the word regular. Height is important to distinguish because it is different than the height used in some of our area formulas. The other word that will come up regularly in our formulas is height. For example, if you have a hexagonal prism, the bases are the two hexagons on either end of the prism. The bases of a prism are the two unique sides that the prism is named for.

The first word we need to define is base.
#Surface area of a triangular prism how to
You need just two measurements: the diameter of the base and it's height, but the calculus is more involved than most of the other simple bodies.Hi, and welcome to this video on finding the Volume and Surface Area of a Prism!īefore we jump into how to find the volume and surface area of a prism, let’s go over a few key terms that we will see in our formulas. The surface area of a cone is one of the most complicated and it is where the need for a calculator becomes more apparent. The surface area formula for a cone, given its diameter (or radius) and height is π x (diameter / 2) 2 + π x (diameter / 2) x √ ((diameter / 2) 2 + (height 2)), where (diameter / 2) is the radius of the base (d = 2 x r), so another way to write it is π x radius 2 + π x radius x √ (radius 2 + (height 2)), as seen in the figure below: To find the SA simply multiply 4 times 3.14159 times the radius square. π is, of course, the well-known mathematical constant, about equal to 3.14159. Visual on the figure below:Ī sphere's surface area can be calculated just by knowing its diameter, or radius (diameter = 2 x radius). The surface area formula for a sphere is 4 x π x (diameter / 2) 2, where (diameter / 2) is the radius of the sphere (d = 2 x r), so another way to write it is 4 x π x radius 2.


side 2 is the surface of one of the sides, and since the cube has 6 equal sides, multiplying by 6 gives us the total cube surface area. This calculation requires only one measurement, due to the symmetricity of the cube. The surface area formula for a cube is 6 x side 2, as seen in the figure below: The result from our surface area calculator will always be a square of the same unit: square feet, square inches, square meters, square cm, square mm. In all surface area calculations, make sure that all lengths are measured in the same unit, e.g. Below are the formulas for calculating surface area of the most common body types. How to calculate the surface area of a body?ĭepending on the type of body, there are different formulas and different required information you need to calculate surface area (a.k.a. How to calculate the surface area of a body?.
