CHAPTER 3

SOLID GEOMETRY: CONCEPTS AND APPLICATIONS

3.1 Basic Concepts of Solids

3.2 Measurements of Solids

At the end of the chapter, students are expected to

 Identify different geometric solids.

 Explore the properties and attributes of two and three dimensional figures.
 Apply the concepts of geometric solids to various real-life problems in the
world around them.

The world around us is obviously three-dimensional (Euclidean space) having height,

width, and depth. Understanding solids is a building block for finding their lateral area, surface
area, and measurements of volumes of various solid figures. These include pyramids, cylinders,
cubes, cones, spheres and prisms.

In this chapter we extend what we know about two-dimensional figures to three-

dimensional shapes. First, we will define the different types of 3D shapes and their parts. Then,
we will find the surface area and volume of prisms, cylinders, pyramids, cones, and spheres.

3.1 Basic concept of Solids

A solid is a three-dimensional figure bounded by surfaces or plane figures.

Figures can be classified according to their dimensions. Two-dimensional figures are plane
figures, or “flat” figures. A plane figure is a flat figure that does not have depth to it.

Here are some examples of plane figures.

Here you have a circle, a triangle and a rectangle. You can see that these figures have been
created on one plane. They are two-dimensional figures.

Then, there are three-dimensional figures or solid figures. Solid figures are not limited to one
plane and have depth. There are many different types of solid figures.
Illustration:
1. Draw an octagon and identify the edges and vertices of the octagon. How many of each
are there?
2. Find the area of a square with 5 cm sides.
3. Draw the following polygons.
a. A convex pentagon.
b. A concave nonagon.

Know What? Until now, we have only talked about two-dimensional, or flat, shapes. Copy the
equilateral triangle to the right onto a piece of paper and cut it out. Fold on the dotted lines.
What shape do these four equilateral triangles make?

3.1.1 Polyhedrons

A polyhedron is a three-dimensional figure

that is formed by polygons that enclose a region in space.

 Each polygon in a polyhedron is a face.

 The line segment where two faces intersect is an edge.
 The point of intersection of two edges is a vertex.

Examples:
 Polyhedrons include  Non-polyhedrons are
 Cube  Cones
 Prism  Spheres
 Pyramid  Cylinders
( because they have sides that are not
Note: All prisms and pyramids are named polygons )
by their bases.
3.1.1a Prism

A prism is a polyhedron with two parallel ,congruent bases.

The other faces, also called lateral faces, are rectangles.

triangular prism octagonal prism

3.1.1b Pyramid

A pyramid is a polyhedron with one base

and the lateral sides (all are triangular sides) meet at a common vertex.

hexagonal pyramid square pyramid.

Example 1: Determine if the following solids are polyhedrons. If the solid is a polyhedron,
name it and find the number of faces, vertices and edges each has.

a) b) c)
Solution:
a) The base is a triangle and all the sides are triangles, so this is a polyhedron.
It is called triangular pyramid.There are 4 faces, 4 vertices and6 edges.
b) This solid is also a polyhedron because all faces are polygons. The bases are both
pentagons, so it is a pentagonal prism. There are 7 faces, 10 vertices, and15 edges.
c) This is a cylinder and has bases that are circles. Circles are not polygons, so it is not a
polyhedron.
3.1.2 Euler’s Theorem

Let’s put our results from Example 1 into a table.

Faces Vertices Edges

Triangular Pyramid 4 4 6

Pentagonal Prism 7 10 15

Notice that faces + vertices is two more that the number of edges. This is called Euler’s Theorem,
after the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler.

Euler’s Formula for Polyhedra: this can be used to find the number of vertices (V), faces (F), or
edges (E) on a polyhedron:

If a figure does not satisfy Euler’s formula, the figure is not a polyhedron.

Illustration:

Example 2: Find the number of faces, vertices, and edges in the octagonal prism.

Solution: There are 10 faces and 16 vertices.

Use Euler’s Theorem, to solve for E.

Example 3: In a six-faced polyhedron, there are 10 edges. How many vertices does the
polyhedron have?

Solution:
Example 4: A three-dimensional figure has 10 vertices, 5 faces, and 12 edges. Is it a polyhedron?

Solution:

Because the two sides are not equal, this figure is NOT a polyhedron.

3.1.3 Regular Polyhedra

A regular polyhedron is a polyhedron where all the faces are congruent regular polygons.

All regular polyhedron are convex.

A concave polyhedron “caves in.”

 There are five regular polyhedra called the Platonic solids, after the Greek philosopher
Plato.
 These five solids are significant because they are the ONLY five regular polyhedra.
 There are only five because the “sum of the measures of the angles that meet at each vertex
must be less than ”.
 Therefore the only combinations are
 3, 4 or 5 triangles at each vertex,
 3 squares at each vertex or
 3 pentagons.
 Each of these polyhedra have a name based on the number of sides, except the cube.

5 regular polyhedra ( Platonic solids )

Regular Tetrahedron: A 4-faced polyhedron and all the faces are equilateral triangles.
Cube: A 6-faced polyhedron and all the faces are squares.
Regular Octahedron: An 8-faced polyhedron and all the faces are equilateral triangles.
Regular Dodecahedron: A 12-faced polyhedron and all the faces are regular pentagons.
Regular Icosahedron: A 20-faced polyhedron and all the faces are equilateral triangles.
3.1.4 Cross-Sections
One way to “view” a three-dimensional figure in a two-dimensional plane is to use cross-
sections.

A cross-section is the intersection of a plane with a solid.

Illustration: The cross-section of the peach plane and the tetrahedron is a triangle.

Example 5: What is the shape formed by the intersection of the plane and the regular
octahedron?

a) b) c)

Solution:
a) Square b) Rhombus c) Hexagon

3.1. Nets

A net is an unfolded, flat representation of the sides of a three-dimensional shape.

Illustration:
Example 6: What kind of figure does this net create?

Solution:

Example 7: Draw a net of the right triangular prism below.

Solution: The net will have two triangles and

three rectangles. The rectangles are
different sizes and the two triangles
are the same.

Note: There are several different nets of any polyhedron. For example, this net could have the
triangles anywhere along the top or bottom of the three rectangles.

 Know What? Revisited (first page) The net of the shape is a regular tetrahedron.