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Sides and Vertices of Shapes

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Basics on the topic Sides and Vertices of Shapes

Vertex Geometry – Sides and Vertices

Most 2D shapes have sides and vertices. So what are sides and vertices? Let’s find out all there is to know about sides and vertices in this text. A side is a straight line that makes up a closed 2D shape.

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A vertice, or vertex when we are talking about just one, is where two sides meet to form a corner.

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Sides and Vertices on Squares and Trapezoids

Squares and trapezoids are a type of quadrilateral. How many sides and vertices does a quadrilateral have? Quadrilaterals have 4 sides and 4 vertices, so when someone asks you what shape has 4 sides and 4 vertices, you can tell them all quadrilaterals do! Therefore, a square and trapezoid are examples of a shape with 4 sides and 4 vertices.

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Sides and Vertices on Pentagons

How many sides and vertices does a pentagon have? A pentagon is a shape with 5 sides and 5 vertices, so when someone asks you what shape has 5 sides and 5 vertices, you can tell them pentagons do!

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Sides and Vertices on Circles

How many sides and vertices does a circle have? A circle is a special case, because it has 0 sides and 0 vertices, so when someone asks you what shape has 0 sides and 0 vertices, you can tell them a circle!

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Sides and Vertices of 2D Shapes – Summary

Most shapes have sides and vertices. You can use these to help identify 2D shapes. A side is a straight line that makes up a closed 2D shape. A vertice, or vertex, is where two sides meet to form a corner. In this text we learned that squares and trapezoids have four sides and four vertices, whereas a pentagon has five each. How many sides and vertices does a triangle have? Triangles have three sides and three vertices, hence the name tri (=three). The table below shows an overview of shapes, their number of sides and their vertices.

Name of the Shape # of Sides and Vertices
triangle 3
square, rectangle, trapezoid 4
pentagon 5
hexagon 6

If you want more you will find interactive exercises, worksheets and more activities on sides and vertices on two dimensional shapes after the video.

Transcript Sides and Vertices of Shapes

Nico has found an old game console in the attic. "Ohh, what is this?" "Hmm. I wonder?" It looks like a game has started on the console! However, Nico needs to learn about sides and vertices of 2D shapes to play the game. To help Nico play the game, let's learn about sides and vertices of 2D shapes. A 2D shape is a flat closed shape that almost always has sides and vertices. What are sides and vertices? Sides are the straight lines that form a shape, like all of these sides here. Vertices are the corners where two straight lines meet, like all of these corners here. If we talk about one corner, we call it a vertex. If we talk about more than one corner, we call them vertices. Knowing the number of sides and vertices a shape has can help you to identify shapes, or classify them into shape families! For example, this square has four sides and four vertices. A quadrilateral, like this square, always has four sides and four vertices! Now we have learned about sides and vertices, let's look at some different shapes. Here is a trapezoid. How many sides does it have? There are four sides. How many vertices does it have? There are four vertices. A trapezoid always has four sides and four vertices, which also makes it a part of the quadrilateral family. You might notice there are different shapes that share the same number of sides and vertices. Next we have a pentagon. How many sides and vertices does a pentagon have? There are five sides and five vertices! A pentagon always has five sides and five vertices. Some shapes are an exception to the rule that all 2D shapes have sides and vertices. One of them is this shape, which is a circle! What do you notice about the sides and vertices of this circle? There are zero sides and zero vertices. A circle will never have any sides or vertices. While Nico continues to play the Shape Mayhem game, let's review! Remember, a 2D shape almost always has sides and vertices. Sides are the straight lines that form a shape. Vertices are the corners where two straight lines meet. Some shapes are an exception to the rule that all 2D shapes have sides and vertices, and one of them is a circle. "Huh?" "I think that's enough game time for today, Nico!" "Oh, you're right! Let's do something else now!" "You were right Nia! Playing outside is much more fun!

3 comments
3 comments
  1. cool

    From Abu, 2 months ago
  2. very interesting

    From Michael, 11 months ago
  3. wow

    From Michael, 11 months ago

Sides and Vertices of Shapes exercise

Would you like to apply the knowledge you’ve learned? You can review and practice it with the tasks for the video Sides and Vertices of Shapes.
  • What are sides and vertices?

    Hints

    This shape has 3 sides. They are marked with light blue here.

    This shape has 3 vertices. Each vertex is shown in dark blue here.

    Solution

    The square has 4 sides (the straight lines that form the shape) and 4 vertices (the points where the sides meet).

  • Where are the vertices?

    Hints

    There are seven vertices to find in total.

    The vertices are the points where the straight sides meet.

    There are three vertices in the triangle, and four vertices in the trapezoid.

    Solution

    Here are the vertices that are on the shapes on Nico's game.

  • Investigating 2D shapes.

    Hints

    Remember that a circle is the only shape with zero sides and zero vertices.

    Count how many sides the shape has. These are the straight lines that form the shape.

    The vertices are the point where two straight sides meet.

    Solution
    • The circle has no vertices or sides.
    • The triangle has 3 sides and 3 vertices.
    • The square has 4 vertices and 4 sides.
    • The pentagon has 5 vertices and 5 sides.
  • Quadrilaterals.

    Hints

    Remember that all quadrilaterals have four sides and four vertices.

    Only 2D shapes (flat) can be quadrilaterals.

    Solution

    All the 2D shapes that have 4 sides and 4 vertices are quadrilaterals.

    These are: square, rectangle, parallelogram and trapezoid.

  • How many sides can you see?

    Hints

    Remember that a circle is the only 2D shape with zero sides and zero vertices.

    The squares has four sides.

    Solution

    In total, there are 17 sides.

    • 1 circles = 0 sides
    • 3 triangles = 9 sides
    • 1 square = 4 sides
    • 1 trapezoid = 4 sides
    0 + 9 + 4 + 4 = 17

  • What shape am I?

    Hints

    Remember that the sides are the straight lines that form the outside of a 2D shape.

    Remember that vertices are where the two sides of a 2D shape meet.

    This is a hexagon.

    Solution

    1) I am a 2D shape. I am special as I am the only 2D shape with 0 vertices and 0 sides. What am I? I am a circle.

    2) I am a closed 3 sided shape. I also have 3 vertices. What am I? I am a triangle.

    3) I am a hexagon. I have an equal number of sides and vertices. If you add together my sides and vertices it totals 12.

    4) I am a closed shape with fewer sides than a pentagon and more than 3 vertices. What am I? I am a quadrilateral.