A rectangular box which is 7 in. by 7 in. by 3 in. must be covered with brown packaging paper before it can be mailed. How much paper is required?

To cover the whole box, find its surface area. The three different face areas are 7 × 7 = 49, 7 × 3 = 21, and 7 × 3 = 21 square inches; each type of face appears twice. So the total is 2 × (49 + 21 + 21) = 182 square inches. The correct choice is 182 sq. in.

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