A Square pyramid is a pyramid which has a square base and the remaining faces of the pyramid are 4 triangles. All the 4 triangles of a pyramid meet at a single point known as the ‘apex’ or the ‘vertex’ of the pyramid and a square pyramid has a common square base for all the triangles. The surface area of a pyramid can be calculated by finding the area of each single face and then later adding up the areas of all the faces together.
Example 1: What is the surface area of a square pyramid which has a base length of 4m and a slant height of 7m?
Given: base length, b= 4m
Slant height of the pyramid, s = 7m
Since it is a square pyramid, the base of the pyramid is a square.
Surface area of a square pyramid = b2 + 2* b* s
This gives: Surface area of the square pyramid, SA= (4)2 + (2 * 4 * 7) = 16+ 56= 72m2
Therefore, the surface area of the given square pyramid is 72m2
Example 2: What is the surface area of a square pyramid which has a base length of 6m and a slant height of 10m?
Given: base length, b= 6m
Slant height of the pyramid, s = 10m
Since it is a square pyramid, the base of the pyramid is a square.
Surface area of a square pyramid = b2 + 2* b* s
This gives: Surface area of the square pyramid, SA= (6)2 + (2 * 6 * 10) = 36+ 120= 156m2
Therefore, the surface area of the given square pyramid is 156m2