How do i find the lateral adn surface area of a regular pyramid?
A “regular” pyramid has a square base with a side length of s and a height of h. I have to assume that the “lateral” refers to the height of one of the triangular faces. To calculate the lateral, you imagine a right triangle inside the pyramid with the 90 at the center of the square. The height is still h, but the base is 1/2*s. The lateral is the hypotenuse of this triangle, so its value would be the square root of h^2 + (s/2)^2, using the Theorem of Pythagorus. Call its value “l”. The surface area is in two parts, the square with area s^2; and the four triangular faces, each with area 1/2*s*l, with the total being 2*s*l. So the total surface area would be s^2 + 2sl, or s(s+2l).
