A cube-shaped item needs to be painted. The item’s edge length is 2 centimeters. What is the total surface area that will be painted? 16 cm² 24 cm² 32 cm² 48 cm²

Since you're painting the sides of the cube, you will need the equation for the surface area of a cube, which is [tex]SA = 6s^{2} [/tex], where SA = surface area and s = length of an edge of the cube.

You're told that the edge length, s = 2cm. Plug this into the equation for surface area:
[tex]SA = 6s^{2}\\ SA = 6 (2\:cm)^{2} \\ SA = 6 (4\:cm^{2} )\\ SA = 24 \:cm^{2}[/tex]

The surface area that will be painted is 24 cm².