A prism is a polyhedron. This means it is a solid that only has plane (flat) faces.
Two of its faces serve as bases. These bases are 2 polygons that never meet (parallel) and are identical.
It has at least three other faces that connect the bases together. These are the lateral (side) faces.
Prisms are named after the kind of polygon that forms their bases.
|
Polygon forming the bases |
Name of the solid |
Example |
|---|---|---|
|
Triangle |
Triangular-based prism |
|
|
Square |
Square-based prism |
|
|
Rectangle |
Rectangular-based prism |
|
|
Pentagon |
Pentagonal-based prism |
|
|
Hexagon |
Hexagonal-based prism |
|
A pyramid is a polyhedron. Therefore, it is a solid with only plane (flat) faces.
One of its faces serves as its base. This base is a polygon.
Its other faces (the lateral faces) are triangles that meet at the vertex.
Pyramids are named after the polygons that form their base.
|
Polygon forming the base |
Name of the solid |
Example |
|---|---|---|
|
Triangle |
Triangular-based pyramid |
|
|
Square |
Square-based pyramid |
|
|
Rectangle |
Rectangular-based pyramid |
|
|
Pentagon |
Pentagonal-based pyramid |
|
|
Hexagon |
Hexagonal-based pyramid |
 |
