Platonic Solid
The Platonic solids are the five convex solids composed of identical regular polygons.
Platonic solid is a high school-level concept that would be first encountered in a geometry course covering solid geometry.
Examples
Cube: | The cube is the Platonic solid comprised of six equal square faces that meet each other at right angles, eight vertices, and twelve edges. |
Dodecahedron: | (1) A general dodecahedron is any polyhedron having 12 faces. (2) The regular dodecahedron is the Platonic solid comprised of 12 pentagonal faces, 20 vertices, and 30 edges. |
Icosahedron: | (1) A general icosahedron is any polyhedron having 20 faces. (2) The regular icosahedron is the Platonic solid comprised of 20 equilateral triangles, 12 vertices, and 30 edges. |
Octahedron: | (1) A general octahedron is any polyhedron having eight faces. (2) The regular octahedron is the Platonic solid comprised of eight equilateral triangular faces, eight edges, and six vertices. |
Tetrahedron: | (1) A general tetrahedron is any polyhedron having four faces. (2) The regular tetrahedron is the Platonic solid comprised of four equilateral triangles, four vertices, and six edges. |
Prerequisites
Regular Polygon: | A regular polygon is a polygon in which the sides are all the same length and the angles all have the same measure. |