Michigan Geometry Preview 2012

Prisms
Formula

In general, to find the surface area of a right prism, the formula is:

Surface Area = 2B + ph
where B is the area of one base, p is the perimeter of the base and h is the height of the prism. 

We cannot be more specific about the base because the base could be any polygon and in cylinders, the base is a circle.  You will need to remember how to find the area of various polygons and circles.  A review of those formulas is below.  If you do not recall what the letters in the formulas represent, you can go back to that section in this course. 

Audio