Polyhedra

A polyhedron is a 3D shape made of flat sides. Each flat side is called a face. The lines where faces meet are called edges. The points where edges meet are called corners, or vertices. Cubes and pyramids are polyhedra you might already know.

Parts of a Polyhedron

Every polyhedron has three main parts. The faces are the flat surfaces you can touch. The edges are the straight lines between faces. The vertices are the sharp points. A cube has 6 faces, 12 edges, and 8 vertices.

Special Polyhedra

There are five very special polyhedra called the Platonic solids. Each one has faces that are all the same shape and size. The tetrahedron has 4 triangle faces. The cube has 6 square faces. These shapes have been studied for thousands of years.

Fun Facts

• The word polyhedron comes from Greek words meaning 'many faces'.
• A soccer ball is shaped like a polyhedron with 32 faces.
• Dice used in games are often cube-shaped polyhedra.

Did You Know?

Ancient Greek thinkers believed the five Platonic solids matched the building blocks of the universe, like fire and water.