How do surface area and volume compare?

Answer 1

-- Surface area tells how much of a table a 2D shape will cover.

-- Volume tells how much water a 3D shape will hold.

-- It may be a bit confusing if you hear someone mention "the surface area of a cube".

What they're talking about is not really the surface area of the cube, but the surface

area of the faces of the cube ... the area of the construction paper or sheet metal that

you'd need in order to build the cube.

In the case of the cube ...

-- The area of one face is the 'square' (length x length) of the length of each edge.

-- The total area is 6 times the area of each face.

-- The volume is the 'cube' (length x length x length) of the length of each edge.