Name: _____________________________________________ period: ___________

Word Problems on Surface Area

Directions: show all formulas and substitutions.

1. A painter uses a roller to paint a wall. The roller has a radius of 5 inches and a height of 13 inches. In
one roll, what is the area of the wall that he will paint? What is the area that he will paint in 3 rolls?
Use 3 for ∏.

2. Maddi bought a gift for her friend. She wants to place the gift in a package with the length of 9 inches,
width of 12 inches, and height of 4 inches. Then she wants to wrap the gift.
a. What is the surface area of the package?

b. If Maddi bought a roll of wrapping paper that is 3 feet long and 2 feet wide, will it be enough
to wrap the package? (hint: convert feet into inches)

3. Thomas received a gift in a box that was in the shape of a rectangular prism. The net for the prism is
shown.

3
3

a. What is the surface area of the net? 5

b. If the dimensions of the box triple, what would be the area of the net?

c. What is the ratio of the area of the enlarged box to the area of the original box?
4. Maria wants to store her soup in a cylindrical container and completely cover it in aluminum foil. What
is the surface area of this container? Use 3 for ∏.
8

15

5. The parking lot at the local ice cream store has 5 cylindrical posts in front of the store. These posts
need to be painted bright yellow. The diameter of each post is 2 feet and each post is 4 feet high.
Approximately how many square feet must be painted? Use 3 for ∏. (hint: you do not paint the
bottom of the post..it is stuck in the floor)

6. The top and sides of the cake shown below are to be covered in frosting. How much frosting are they
going to need to cover the cake?

7. A birthday gift is placed inside the box shown below. What is the minimum amount of wrapping paper
needed to wrap this gift?

8. You want to paint the entire figure below. How much paint do you need? Use 3 for ∏.
9. Donnovan wanted to wrap the gift below. How much paper is he going to need?

10. The lateral surface area for a cylinder is 144. The height of the cylinder is 6. Use 3 for ∏.
a. What is the radius of the cylinder?

b. Find the total surface area.

11. You have a square pyramid. The area of the square is 25 and the slant height of the pyramid is 10. Find
the total surface area of the pyramid.

12. The total surface area of a triangular pyramid is 18. The triangular base is an equilateral triangle with
the base a 4 and a height of 3. Find the slant length.

13. You have a rectangular prism with a total surface area of 82. The base is a rectangle measuring 7 by 2.
Find the height of the prism.

14. There is a square prism with a height of 4. The area of the base is 49.
a. What are the dimensions of the square?

b. What is the total surface area of the prism?

15. The net to the right is for what 3D figure?

a. The length of the rectangle is 60. What is the radius of the circle?

b. What is the total surface area of the figure?

16. The net to the right is for what 3D figure?

a. The area of each rectangle is 15. What is the lateral surface

area of the figure?

17. Suppose the length of each of a cube of ice is 4 centimeters. Find the surface area of the cube.

18. Suppose you cut the ice from number 17 in half horizontally into two smaller rectangular prisms. Find
the surface area of one of the two smaller prisms.

19. How much paint are you going to need to paint the treasure chest below? Use 3 for ∏. (you do paint
the bottom of the chest)

20. How much paint are you going to need to paint the entire figure to the right? (you do paint
the bottom of the rectangles)