Question

What is the difference between the lateral area and surface area?

Answer 1

Lateral area is the area of the sides of a three-dimensional shape, excluding the base and top.

Surface area is the area of all of the sides of a shape.

For example, a the formula for the surface area of a cube is
`6s^2`, where
`s` is the length of an edge of the cube. However, the formula for the lateral area of a cube is
`4s^2`, where
`s` is also the length of an edge of the cube.