Yes indeed. If you fill a flimsy paper cup completely full of water and then squeeze the sides of the cup making it oval shaped, what will happen? It will overflow, right? Why? You didn't change the surface area when you squeezed it, did you? No. But the squeezed paper cup will not hold as much water as the unsqueezed one, yet the surface area of the squeezed cup is exactly the same as the surface area of the unsqueezed cup. Here is a better illustration. Look at these two boxes:BOX A and BOX B have the same surface area. Here is why: BOX A: The front rectangle has area 3in x 6in or 18inČ The back rectangle also has area 3in x 6in or 18inČ The rectangle on the left has area 2in by 6in or 12inČ The rectangle on the right also has area 2in by 6in or 12inČ The bottom rectangle has area 3in by 2in or 6inČ The top rectangle also has area 3in by 2in or 6inČ So the surface area of BOX A is 18inČ+18inČ+12inČ+12inČ+6inČ+6inČ = 72inČ BOX B: The front rectangle has area 2in x 8in or 16inČ The back rectangle also has area 2in x 8in or 16inČ The rectangle on the left also has area 2in by 8in or 16inČ The rectangle on the right also has area 2in by 8in or 16inČ The bottom rectangle (a square) has area 2in by 2in or 4inČ The top rectangle (also a square) also has area 2in by 2in or 4inČ So the surface area of BOX B is 16inČ+16inČ+16inČ+16inČ+4inČ+4inČ = 72inČ So the total surface area of both boxes is the same, 72inČ ---------------------------- However their volumes (how much they will hold) is different. Here is why: The volume of BOX A is V = LWH = 3in x 2in x 6in = 36inł The volume of BOX B is V = LWH = 2in x 2in x 8in = 32inł So the two boxes have the exact same surface area but BOX A holds 4inł more than BOX B. Edwin