This surface area of a rectangular prism calculator takes the figures you already have and applies the relationship behind surface area of a rectangular prism calculations for you, giving surface area, lateral area and base area from height (h), length (l) and width (w).
What Is the Surface Area of a Rectangular Prism Calculator?
The surface area of a rectangular prism calculator works through height (h), length (l) and width (w) to give you surface area, lateral area and base area.
It is aimed at the case where you know the method but not the arithmetic: schoolwork, a quick check on a worked example, or a figure that needs to be right first time.
How the Surface Area of a Rectangular Prism Works
Each step is applied in order and depends only on the values before it, which makes it possible to follow the calculation rather than take it on trust.
If you are working through the same problem by hand afterwards, compare the intermediate values. That is where a mistake usually shows itself.
Checking Your Own Working
Round sensibly as you go and keep the full precision in the calculator. Rounding too early is the most common way of getting a right method to give a wrong answer.
Where a result should be a whole number, such as a count, check it against the constraint that produced it. A fraction of a person is a sign that something upstream needs revisiting.
A Worked Example
Working through an example, with height (h) set to 10, length (l) set to 5, width (w) set to 2, the calculator returns surface area of 160, and base area of 10, and lateral area of 140. Substitute your own figures and the same steps produce the same kind of answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I need to work out surface area?
Enter height (h), length (l) and width (w). The calculator then works through the relationship and reports surface area, lateral area and base area.
What does the surface area of a rectangular prism actually calculate?
It takes height (h), length (l) and width (w) and converts them into surface area, lateral area and base area using the standard relationship for this problem. Each step is applied in turn, so every output is traceable back to the numbers you typed in.
How should I enter height (h)?
Use the value you actually have, in the unit shown next to the field. Enter every value in the same unit system. The calculator assumes the figures you supply are consistent, so it cannot correct a mistake that happens before the calculation starts.
Does anything you type get stored?
No. The whole calculation runs inside your browser, and nothing you enter is uploaded, logged or sent anywhere.
Is the answer exact?
It is as exact as the formula and the inputs allow. The method itself is the standard one for this problem, so the only sources of error are the figures you enter and the precision you ask for.