In words, the surface area of a cube is the area of the six squares that cover it. The area of one of them is a*a, or a^2
[tex]A=6a^2[/tex]Here, a = 5 inches
[tex]\begin{gathered} A=6\cdot(5^2) \\ A=6\cdot25 \\ A=150 \end{gathered}[/tex]The answer would be 150 in^2