To find the surface area of a rectangular pyramid, we need to find the area of each face and then add them all together.
The base of the pyramid is a rectangle with length l = 8 cm and width w = 4 cm. The area of the base is A_base = l * w = 8 cm * 4 cm = 32 cm^2.
The lateral faces of the pyramid are triangles. Each triangle has a base equal to the length of the rectangle (l = 8 cm) and a height equal to the height of the pyramid (h = 2 cm). The area of each triangular face is A_triangle = 1/2 * base * height = 1/2 * 8 cm * 2 cm = 8 cm^2.
There are four triangular faces, so the total surface area of the pyramid is:
A_total = A_base + 4 * A_triangle = 32 cm^2 + 4 * 8 cm^2 = 32 cm^2 + 32 cm^2 = 64 cm^2.
Therefore, the surface area of the rectangular pyramid is 64 cm^2.