BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT) Practice Test

The surface area of a regular prism can be calculated by considering both the lateral surface area and the areas of the two bases. In this context, the formula involves adding the area of the lateral faces to the areas of the bases. For a prism, the lateral surface area can be found by multiplying the perimeter of the base by the height of the prism. Each base of the prism contributes some area itself as well. Thus, you start with the area of the two bases (which is represented as 2 times the base area) and add the lateral area to complete the surface area calculation. The correct formula, which encapsulates these ideas, is 2(bh + lh + bl), where: - b is the area of the base, - h is the height of the prism, - l is the height/length for lateral surfaces depending on the shape of the base. This ensures that both the lateral surface area and the top and bottom bases are considered in calculating the total surface area of the prism.