View source

{{stub}}

The '''surface area''' of a solid is the total exposed [[area]] that it has. For example, the surface area of a [[cube]] is the sum of the areas of its six [[square]] [[face]]s; the surface area of a [[tetrahedron]] is the sum of the area of its four [[triangle | triangular]] faces.  In general, for any [[polyhedron]] without holes, the surface area is just the sum of the areas of the faces of the polyhedron.  Some other solids, such as the [[cylinder]] and [[right cone]], have surface areas that can be computed relatively easily.  However, for most solids, [[calculus]] is necessary to compute the surface area.

==See also==
* [[Area]]
* [[Volume]]
* [[Face]]