Let’s Learn!

This box is cube-shaped because it is made up of squares. One way to describe a cube is by identifying how many faces it has. Faces are the flat surfaces of a shape. Most 3-D shapes have more than one face.

Imagine opening the box up. How many faces does a cube have? Let’s count!

Edges are the lines that connect faces. Look at the rectangular prism below. All the white lines that outline the rectangular prism are edges.

Just like on two-dimensional, or 2-D, shapes, vertices are the corners of 3-D shapes. Look at the dice below.

There are 4 vertices, or corners, on top of each die. (Die means one of a pair of dice.)

There are also 4 vertices on the bottom of each die. A cube has 4 vertices on the top and 4 vertices on the bottom. It has 8 vertices all together.