Prisms and Pyramids

Polyhedra are not limited to the specifically designed platonic and archimedian solids. There are many more loosely defined polyhedra. Two of these are Prisms and Pyramids.

Pyramids

A pyramid is defined as a polyhedra that consists of a polygon where all of the corners are connected to another point that is not on the same plane as the polygon. Notice that the point doesn't have to be directly above the polygon it can be anywhere. Pyramids like this are known as Oblique Pyramids.

A pyramid where the lines meet at a point directly above the center of the polygon is known as a right pyramid.

As you may have noticed a pyramid doesn't necessarily have to be built on top of a triangle. You can build one of of any regular polygon.

Prisms

A prism is a polyhedra that is made up of two polygons with the same number of sides. Each side of a polygon is connected to the corresponding corner of the other shape.

Like the pyramid the prism can have a variable number of sides and can also be oblique.

 

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