A wooden block in the shape of a rectangular prism is cut into two congruent pieces. Which statement best compares the surface areas of the pieces to the surface area of the original block?

The original outside surface area is split between the two congruent pieces, so each piece has half of that area. The cut also creates a new face on each piece, adding the full area of that face to each one. Therefore, each piece’s surface area is half the original surface area plus the area of the face created by the cut.

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