Describe a real-world situation in which you would want to find the surface area of a prism.

A company is making cereal boxes. They need to cover the box in a bright cardboard to make the cereal look appealing. To know how much cardboard they need to make the box, they would have to find the surface area of the box. Imagine that the box has a base area of 12 inches squared, a base perimeter of 16 inches, and a height of 13 inches.