From “Why can bugs fall great distances and survive, but humans won’t?” (http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbugfall.html):
“Our human test subject is 2 meters tall, 0.6 meters wide, and 0.4 meters deep and weighs 90.7 kilograms. He therefore has a surface area of 4.48 square meters.”
How do you figure that?
Cecil is modeling the human as a simple box shape.
He gets the surface area (which he admits is a crude figure) like this:
Surface area of the front is 2m x 0.6m = 1.2 sq/m
Surface area of the back side is the same as the front. (1.2 sq/m)
Do the same for the two sides and you get 2m x 0.4m = 0.8 sq/m (x2)
The top and bottom are 0.6m x 0.4m = 0.24 sq/m (x2)
Add all the area of all six sides.
1.2 + 1.2 + 0.8 + 0.8 + 0.24 + 0.24 = 4.48 square meters.
Opps, that should say staff member Hawk, not Cecil.