The base of a triangular prism is an isosceles right triangle with a hypotenuse of √32 centimeters. The height of the prism is 6 centimeters. Find the surface area of the triangular prism. Round your answer to the nearest tenth.
We need to find the length of one leg , l, of the right triangle
So we have
2l^2 = 32 divide by 2
l^2 = 16
l = 4
So.....the surface area of the right triangle = (1/2) l^2 = (1/2)4^2
And the total surface area =
Surface area of top/bottom + surface area of the sides =
2 [ (1/2)4^2 ] + 6 [ 4 + 4 + √32 ] ≈ 97.9 cm^2