The box has a depth of 4 ft, a height of 3 ft, and a width of 2 ft. What is the surface area of the box?

• A. 52 sq. ft
• B. 60 sq. ft
• C. 40 sq. ft
• D. 26 sq. ft

Answer: (A)

Surface area is found by adding up the areas of all six faces of a rectangular box. With depth 4 ft, width 2 ft, and height 3 ft, you have pairs of equal faces: depth×height is 4×3 = 12, two faces give 24; depth×width is 4×2 = 8, two faces give 16; width×height is 2×3 = 6, two faces give 12. Add them up: 24 + 16 + 12 = 52 square feet. The same result comes from the formula 2(ab + bc + ac) with a = 4, b = 2, c = 3, giving 2(8 + 6 + 12) = 52. So the surface area is 52 square feet.