How do you find the surface area of an Octahedron?

Question

need a simple equation to solve for the surface area

Answer 1

The surface of an octahedron is composed of 8 equilateral triangles. The area of an equliateral triangle of side 1 is:

A = 1/2 (1) (1/2) (Sqrt(3)). So,

8A = 2 Sqrt(3)

The general formula is 2 Sqrt(3) x^2, where x is the length of any edge.

Answer 2

If it looks like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octahedron

That's 8 equilateral triangles.

Each face has area s²√3/4, so it sure looks to me like the surface area should be 8(s²√3/4) = 2s²√3

Answer 3

1) find the area of a triangle
A=0.75 s^2 cot 60°

2) Multiply by 8
A=6s^2 cot 60°
A=2√3 *s^2