Find the surface area of a rectangular pyramid with these measurements: l = 13 cm, w = 11 cm, and h = 8 cm. Express your answer as a decimal rounded to the nearest hundredth.
To find the surface area of a rectangular pyramid, we need to find the area of the base and the area of the four triangles that make up the sides of the pyramid.
The area of the base is the length times the width, so the area of the base is $13 \text{ cm} \times 11 \text{ cm} = 143 \text{ cm}^2$.
The area of each triangle face is one-half the base times the height of the triangle. The base of each triangle is one of the edges of the base of the pyramid, and the height of the triangle is the height of the pyramid.
The triangle faces are all congruent, so we only need to find the area of one.
The area of one triangle is $\frac{1}{2}(11 \text{ cm})(8 \text{ cm}) = 44 \text{ cm}^2$.
Now we know that there are four triangles, so the total area of all four triangles is $4(44 \text{ cm}^2) = 176 \text{ cm}^2$.
The total surface area of the pyramid is the area of the base plus the total area of the four triangles. So the surface area of the pyramid is $143 \text{ cm}^2 + 176 \text{ cm}^2 = 319 \text{ cm}^2$. Rounded to the nearest hundredth, this is $\boxed{319.00 \text{ cm}^2}$.