Lesson 22: Names of Three-Dimensional Figures

It's important to know the names of three-dimensional figures.  Later on in math, you'll learn how to do different computations involving those figures, but for now, it's important to know what they are called.

Don't forget to watch the embedded video clip for this lesson at the bottom of the page.  Please be sure to read the embedded video information and disclaimer.

This is a topic that should be memorized.  It's hard to draw three dimensional figures on a two-dimensional piece of paper or screen, and sometimes students get confused when they see representations of these figures.  Here I'll use words to describe the various 3-D figures that you need to know, and below you can see some representations of these figures.  See if you can think of other example objects that fit into each category.

• Sphere:  A perfectly round object, like a ball, or a globe.
• Cube:  A box that has perfect squares for each face, like the famous Rubik's cube
• Cylinder:  A round tube with a circle on each end, like an empty toilet paper roll.
• Cone:  An object with a circle at the top that gets smaller and smaller until it reaches a point at the bottom, like an ice cream cone.
• Pyramid:  An object with triangles for sides, forming a point at the top.  The base is usually a square.  The Pyramids of Egypt are a famous example. 
• Rectangular Prism:  A box that is not a perfect cube.  Some of the faces may be rectangles, like a shoebox. 
• Triangular Prism:  See picture below.  Note that the base is rectangular, and the two side faces are triangular

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