3D shapes have three parts: vertices, faces, and edges.
The faces of a 3D shape are its flat sides.
In the cube above, the faces are all squares.
The edges of a 3D shape are its lines.
Two faces meet to make an edge.
The vertices of a 3D shape are its corners or points.
Three or more faces meet to create a vertex.
Tip: "vertices" means more than 1 "vertex".
When you study 3D shapes, you might be asked to count the faces of an object.
This is how you do it.
Take a look at this rectangular pyramid. Then, follow the steps to count the faces.
Step 1. Count the square at the bottom. There is 1 rectangle.
Step 2. Count the faces around the shape. There are 4 triangles.
1
2
3
4
Great job! This shape has a total of 5 faces!
Now, let's try counting the vertices.
Step 1. Count the vertex at the top. That's 1.
Step 2. Then, count the vertices around the base.
Great job! This shape has 5 vertices.
One more thing! Let's count the edges.
The edges are lines.
First, let's count the lines of the rectangle at the bottom.
There are 4.
Now, let's count the edges of the triangles.
There are 4.
This shape has a total of 8 edges.
Let's try this again with a rectangular prism.
How many faces, vertices, and edges does it have?
6 faces
8 vertices
12 edges
Good work! You got it! ✅
Now, practice what you learned. You can do it!