I have seen the words area and surface used interchangeably as if they are the same. The difference might be explained in the following way: The area is the measurement of the space occupied by any two-dimensional geometric shape. The surface area is the sum of the areas of all the faces of the three-dimensional figure. Plane might represent the area two-dimensional figures. In Mesopotamian mathematics, the same term is used, because geometry only existed as formulas, not shapes in a three-dimensional space. The sides of a geometric shape are not added together; the use of the word surface for geometric shapes implies that the area of each side is calculated and then all sides are added together. Therefore, the term in Sumerian and Akkadian being the same word should be translated by the same word "area," i.e., the technical meaning of the term.