'Platonic solids' are regular polyhedrons. They are the three-dimensional (solid) equivalent of the convex regular polygons. There are only five such figures (shown below). They are unique in that the faces, edges and angles are all congruent.The beauty and symmetry of the Platonic solids have made them a favourite subject of mathematicians for thousands of years. They are named after the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.
THE FIVE "PLATONIC SOLIDS"
TETRAHEDRON: 4 Vertices 6 Edges 4 Faces
CUBE: 8 Vertices 12 Edges 6 Faces
OCTAHEDRON: 6 Vertices 12 Edges 8 Faces
DODECAHEDRON: 20 Vertices 30 Edges 12 Faces
ICOSAHEDRON: 6 Vertices 12 Edges 8 Faces
SHIVA Charity (UK) puts these free educational pages on its web site in order to be used primarily in Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Darjeeling, India, where lessons are mostly repetitive "chalk and talk" and curriculum restrained. We are involved in teachers' resources training there, and hope that schools in the UK and elsewhere will support SHIVA Charity's cause with funding. Please visit our main pages to see the work we do, and how we raise money for individual projects and for child sponsorship.
