Try to visualize the surface of a cube in terms of squares. There are six different faces of a cube, of which each is a square of the same area. But remember, he isn't painting the bottoms, so we only need five! To get the surface area, we simply multiply the area of one square by 5. Since the edge of the box is 2.3 cm, then the area of one face is [tex](2.3 \ cm)(2.3 \ cm)=5.29 \ cm^2[/tex]. You want to multiply this by 5 to get the surface area of one cube. [tex]5.29 \ cm^2 * 5 = 26.45 \ cm^2[/tex]. Remember, there are three cubes, so we do [tex]26.45 \ cm^2 * 3= 79.35 \ cm^2[/tex]. That's the final answer.
It's important to recognize the relevant information here. We really don't need to know about the colors James is using, his science experiment, or any of that. All you need is that they are cubes, the bottoms aren't getting counted, the edge is 2.23 cm, and there are three of them. The rest is only confusing!
