3D shapes and their properties

There are 49 NRICH Mathematical resources connected to 3D shapes and their properties
Tet-Trouble
problem

Tet-Trouble

Age
14 to 16
Challenge level
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Is it possible to have a tetrahedron whose six edges have lengths 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 units?
Face Painting
problem

Face Painting

Age
7 to 11
Challenge level
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You want to make each of the 5 Platonic solids and colour the faces so that, in every case, no two faces which meet along an edge have the same colour.
Tetrahedron faces
problem

Tetrahedron faces

Age
7 to 11
Challenge level
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One face of a regular tetrahedron is painted blue and each of the remaining faces are painted using one of the colours red, green or yellow. How many different possibilities are there?
Tetra Inequalities
problem

Tetra Inequalities

Age
16 to 18
Challenge level
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Can you prove that in every tetrahedron there is a vertex where the three edges meeting at that vertex have lengths which could be the sides of a triangle?
Three cubes
problem

Three cubes

Age
14 to 16
Challenge level
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Can you work out the dimensions of the three cubes?
Platonic Planet
problem

Platonic Planet

Age
14 to 16
Challenge level
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Glarsynost lives on a planet whose shape is that of a perfect regular dodecahedron. Can you describe the shortest journey she can make to ensure that she will see every part of the planet?
Four Points on a Cube
problem

Four Points on a Cube

Age
16 to 18
Challenge level
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What is the surface area of the tetrahedron with one vertex at O the vertex of a unit cube and the other vertices at the centres of the faces of the cube not containing O?
Proximity
problem

Proximity

Age
14 to 16
Challenge level
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We are given a regular icosahedron having three red vertices. Show that it has a vertex that has at least two red neighbours.
Building with Solid Shapes
problem

Building with Solid Shapes

Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
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We have a box of cubes, triangular prisms, cones, cuboids, cylinders and tetrahedrons. Which of the buildings would fall down if we tried to make them?
Double your popcorn, double your pleasure
problem

Double your popcorn, double your pleasure

Age
7 to 11
Challenge level
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We went to the cinema and decided to buy some bags of popcorn so we asked about the prices. Investigate how much popcorn each bag holds so find out which we might have bought.