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Circumference, Area,
Surface Area, and Volume
By Taylor Winter
Derive the Formula:
Surface area of a Pyramid
Example Problems
1. There is a square pyramid with slant height of 5 cm and base length of 6 cm. What is the surface area of the square pyramid?
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Area of a triangle= (b x h)/2
b= 6 cm h= 5cm
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6 cm x 5 cm = 30 cm2/2 = 15 cm^2
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Area of a rectangle= b x h
b= 6 cm h= 6 cm
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6 cm x 6 cm = 36 cm^2
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4(lateral faces) + 1(base)
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(4 x 15cm^2) + (36 cm^2) = 60 cm^2 + 36 cm^2 = 96 cm^2
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The surface area of the square pyramid is 96 cm^2.
Similar to the prism surface area you should draw the net of the pyramid. After that you find the area of the shapes and add them together.
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The only difference is that in pyramids there is slant height, or the height of the triangle, which is separate from the height of the pyramid.
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