Net of a square pyramid base 4, slant height 3

Step by step

The question

Question: draw the net of a square pyramid, base 4, slant height 3, and find its surface area.

The surface area is the area of all the outside faces together.

A net shows every face flat.

1 Unfold it

Flat: the square base, with a triangle on each side.

2 Area of each face

The square base: 4 × 4 is 16.

Each triangle: half × 4 × 3 is 6.

Careful!

Count every face in the net.

There are four triangles.

3 Add them all

We add all 5 faces: 40.

4 Check

Let's check another way.

Four triangles of half 4 times 3 are two whole 4 by 3 rectangles: 24.

Plus the base 16.

Together 40.

So the answer is right!

Let's look back.

First: unfold it.

Then: area of each face.

Then: add them all.

Last: check.