Above we have one way in which we can formulate the surface area, but as we have learned there is more than one way to figure things out. instead of figuring out the whole shape at once we can break down the 3 dimensional images into simple shapes. a pyramid can be broken down into the triangles and the base. a prism into the bases and rectangles.
i personally struggle with the formulas in this subject, more letters to fit into the formula and more complicated math. though the longer way of breaking down the polyhedrons into simple shapes makes for more calculations. decide which way is best for you
Sample Problems