Find and interpret surface area of prisms and cylinders.
Use prism surface area for covering
Problem
A gift box is shaped like a rectangular prism with length \(12~\text{inches}\), width \(8~\text{inches}\), and height \(5~\text{inches}\). You want to wrap the entire outside of the box, including the top and bottom. How many square inches of wrapping paper are needed?
Big Picture
What this problem is really about
Wrapping paper covers the box’s exterior, so include all six faces of the closed rectangular prism. Form the three distinct rectangular areas from pairs of dimensions, double each for its opposite matching face, and add the results in square inches. Multiplying all three dimensions would measure the box’s interior capacity instead.
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