Cube

In geometry, a cube[1] is a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at
each vertex.

The cube is the only regular hexahedron and is one of the five Platonic solids. It has 6 faces, 12 edges, and 8 vertices.

The cube is also a square parallelepiped, an equilateral cuboid and a right rhombohedron. It is a regular square prism in three
orientations, and a trigonal trapezohedron in four orientations.

The cube is dual to the octahedron. It has cubical or octahedral symmetry.

The cube is the only convex polyhedron whose faces are all squares.

Contents
Orthogonal projections
Spherical tiling
Cartesian coordinates
Equation in
Formulas
Point in space
Doubling the cube
Uniform colorings and symmetry
Geometric relations
Other dimensions
Related polyhedra
In uniform honeycombs and polychora
Cubical graph
See also
References
External links

Orthogonal projections
The cube has four special orthogonal projections, centered, on a vertex, edges, face and normal to its vertex figure. The first
and third correspond to the A2 and B2 Coxeter planes.
 Orthogonal projections
Regular hexahedron
Centered by Face Vertex
B2 A2

Coxeter planes

Projective
[4] [6]
symmetry

Tilted views

(Click here for rotating model)

Spherical tiling Type Platonic solid
F = 6, E = 12
The cube can also be represented as a spherical tiling, and projected onto the Elements V = 8 (χ = 2)
plane via a stereographic projection. This projection is conformal, preserving
angles but not areas or lengths. Straight lines on the sphere are projected as Faces by sides 6{4}
circular arcs on the plane. Conway notation C
{4,3}
Schläfli symbols t{2,4} or {4}×{}
tr{2,2} or {}×{}×{}
Face configuration V3.3.3.3
Wythoff symbol 3|24

Coxeter diagram

Symmetry Oh, B3, [4,3], (*432)

Orthographic projection Stereographic projection Rotation group O, [4,3]+, (432)

References U06, C18, W3

Cartesian coordinates Properties

regular,
convexzonohedron
For a cube centered at the origin, with edges parallel to the axes and with an Dihedral angle 90°
edge length of 2, the Cartesian coordinates of the vertices are

(±1, ±1, ±1)

while the interior consists of all points (x0, x1, x2) with −1 < xi < 1 for all i.

4.4.4
Equation in (Vertex figure) Octahedron
(dual polyhedron)
In analytic geometry, a cube's surface with center (x0, y0, z0) and edge length of
2a is the locus of all points (x, y, z) such that

A cube can also be considered the limiting case of a 3D superellipsoid as all

three exponents approach infinity.

Formulas
For a cube of edge length :

surface area volume

face diagonal space diagonal

radius of circumscribed sphere radius of sphere tangent to edges

radius of inscribed sphere angles between faces (in radians)

As the volume of a cube is the third power of its sides , third powers
are called cubes, by analogy with squares and second powers.

A cube has the largest volume among cuboids (rectangular boxes) with a given
surface area. Also, a cube has the largest volume among cuboids with the same
total linear size (length+width+height).
Net

Point in space

For a cube whose circumscribing sphere has radius R, and for a given point
in its 3-dimensional space with distances di from the cube's eight vertices,
we have:[2]

Doubling the cube

Doubling the cube, or the Delian problem, was the problem posed by
ancient Greek mathematicians of using only a compass and straightedge to
start with the length of the edge of a given cube and to construct the length
of the edge of a cube with twice the volume of the original cube. They
were unable to solve this problem, and in 1837 Pierre Wantzel proved it to Net of a cube
be impossible because the cube root of 2 is not a constructible number.

Uniform colorings and symmetry 3D

The cube has three uniform colorings, named by the colors of the square faces around
each vertex: 111, 112, 123.

The cube has four classes of symmetry, which can be represented by vertex-transitive
coloring the faces. The highest octahedral symmetry Oh has all the faces the same
color. The dihedral symmetry D4h comes from the cube being a prism, with all four
sides being the same color. The prismatic subsets D2d has the same coloring as the 3D model of a cube
previous one and D2h has alternating colors for its sides for a total of three colors,
paired by opposite sides. Each symmetry form has a different Wythoff symbol.
 Octahedral symmetry tree

Regular Rectangular Rectangular Rhombic Trigonal

Name Square prism
hexahedron trapezoprism cuboid prism trapezohedron
Coxeter
diagram

Schläfli
{4,3}
{4}×{ }
s2{2,4} { }3 { }×2{ }
symbol rr{4,2} tr{2,2}
Wythoff
3|42 42|2 222|
symbol

Oh D4h D2d D2h D3d

Symmetry [4,3] [4,2] [4,2+] [2,2] [6,2+]
(*432) (*422) (2*2) (*222) (2*3)
Symmetry
24 16 8 8 12
order

Image
(uniform
coloring)
(111) (112) (112) (123) (112) (111), (112)

Geometric relations
A cube has eleven nets (one shown above): that is, there are eleven ways to flatten
a hollow cube by cutting seven edges.[3] To color the cube so that no two adjacent
faces have the same color, one would need at least three colors.

The cube is the cell of the only regular tiling of three-dimensional Euclidean
space. It is also unique among the Platonic solids in having faces with an even
number of sides and, consequently, it is the only member of that group that is a
The 11 nets of the cube.
zonohedron (every face has point symmetry).

The cube can be cut into six identical square pyramids. If these square pyramids
are then attached to the faces of a second cube, a rhombic dodecahedron is obtained (with pairs of
coplanar triangles combined into rhombic faces).

Other dimensions
These familiar six-sided
The analogue of a cube in four-dimensional Euclidean space has a special name—a tesseract or dice are cube-shaped.
hypercube. More properly, a hypercube (or n-dimensional cube or simply n-cube) is the analogue
of the cube in n-dimensional Euclidean space and a tesseract is the order-4 hypercube. A
hypercube is also called a measure polytope.

There are analogues of the cube in lower dimensions too: a point in dimension 0, a line segment in one dimension and a square
in two dimensions.
Related polyhedra
The quotient of the cube by the antipodal map yields a projective polyhedron, the
hemicube.

If the original cube has edge length 1, its dual polyhedron (an octahedron) has edge length
.

The cube is a special case in various classes of general polyhedra:

Name Equal edge-lengths? Equal angles? Right angles?

Cube Yes Yes Yes
Rhombohedron Yes Yes No The dual of a cube is an
Cuboid No Yes Yes octahedron, seen here with
vertices at the center of the
Parallelepiped No Yes No
cube's square faces.
quadrilaterally faced hexahedron No No No

The vertices of a cube can be grouped into two groups of four, each forming a regular
tetrahedron; more generally this is referred to as a demicube. These two together form a
regular compound, the stella octangula. The intersection of the two forms a regular
octahedron. The symmetries of a regular tetrahedron correspond to those of a cube which
map each tetrahedron to itself; the other symmetries of the cube map the two to each other.

One such regular tetrahedron has a volume of 13 of that of the cube. The remaining space
consists of four equal irregular tetrahedra with a volume of 16 of that of the cube, each.

The rectified cube is the cuboctahedron. If smaller corners are cut off we get a polyhedron
with six octagonal faces and eight triangular ones. In particular we can get regular
octagons (truncated cube). The rhombicuboctahedron is obtained by cutting off both The hemicube is the 2-to-1
corners and edges to the correct amount. quotient of the cube.

A cube can be inscribed in a dodecahedron so that each vertex of the cube is a vertex of
the dodecahedron and each edge is a diagonal of one of the dodecahedron's faces; taking all such cubes gives rise to the regular
compound of five cubes.

If two opposite corners of a cube are truncated at the depth of the three vertices directly connected to them, an irregular
octahedron is obtained. Eight of these irregular octahedra can be attached to the triangular faces of a regular octahedron to
obtain the cuboctahedron.

The cube is topologically related to a series of spherical polyhedra and tilings with order-3 vertex figures.

*n32 symmetry mutation of regular tilings: {n,3}

Spherical Euclidean Compact hyperb. Paraco. Noncompact hyperbolic

{2,3} {3,3} {4,3} {5,3} {6,3} {7,3} {8,3} {∞,3} {12i,3} {9i,3} {6i,3} {3i,3}

The cuboctahedron is one of a family of uniform polyhedra related to the cube and regular octahedron.
 Uniform octahedral polyhedra

Symmetry: [4,3], (*432) [4,3]+ [1+,4,3] = [3,3] [3+,4]

(432) (*332) (3*2)
{4,3} t{4,3} r{4,3} t{3,4} {3,4} rr{4,3} tr{4,3} sr{4,3} h{4,3} h2{4,3} s{3,4}
r{31,1} t{31,1} {31,1} s2{3,4} {3,3} t{3,3} s{31,1}

= = =
= = = or or

Duals to uniform polyhedra

V43 V3.82 V(3.4)2 V4.62 V34 V3.43 V4.6.8 V34.4 V33 V3.62 V35

The cube is topologically related as a part of sequence of regular tilings, extending into the hyperbolic plane: {4,p}, p=3,4,5...

*n42 symmetry mutation of regular tilings: {4,n}

Spherical Euclidean Compact hyperbolic Paracompact

{4,3} {4,4} {4,5} {4,6} {4,7} {4,8}... {4,∞}

With dihedral symmetry, Dih4, the cube is topologically related in a series of uniform polyhedra and tilings 4.2n.2n, extending
into the hyperbolic plane:

*n42 symmetry mutation of truncated tilings: 4.2n.2n

Symmetry Spherical Euclidean Compact hyperbolic Paracomp.

*n42 *242 *342 *442 *542 *642 *742 *842 *∞42
[n,4] [2,4] [3,4] [4,4] [5,4] [6,4] [7,4] [8,4]... [∞,4]

Truncated
figures

Config. 4.4.4 4.6.6 4.8.8 4.10.10 4.12.12 4.14.14 4.16.16 4.∞.∞

n-kis
figures

Config. V4.4.4 V4.6.6 V4.8.8 V4.10.10 V4.12.12 V4.14.14 V4.16.16 V4.∞.∞

All these figures have octahedral symmetry.

The cube is a part of a sequence of rhombic polyhedra and tilings with [n,3] Coxeter group symmetry. The cube can be seen as
a rhombic hexahedron where the rhombi are squares.
 Symmetry mutations of dual quasiregular tilings: V(3.n)2
Spherical Euclidean Hyperbolic
*n32
*332 *432 *532 *632 *732 *832... *∞32

Tiling

Conf. V(3.3)2 V(3.4)2 V(3.5)2 V(3.6)2 V(3.7)2 V(3.8)2 V(3.∞)2

The cube is a square prism:

Family of uniform prisms

Polyhedron

Coxeter

Tiling

Config. 2.4.4 3.4.4 4.4.4 5.4.4 6.4.4 7.4.4 8.4.4 9.4.4 10.4.4 11.4.4 12.4.4

As a trigonal trapezohedron, the cube is related to the hexagonal dihedral symmetry family.

Uniform hexagonal dihedral spherical polyhedra

Symmetry: [6,2], (*622) [6,2]+, (622) [6,2+], (2*3)

{6,2} t{6,2} r{6,2} t{2,6} {2,6} rr{6,2} tr{6,2} sr{6,2} s{2,6}

Duals to uniforms

V62 V122 V62 V4.4.6 V26 V4.4.6 V4.4.12 V3.3.3.6 V3.3.3.3

Regular and uniform compounds of cubes

Compound of three cubes Compound of five cubes

In uniform honeycombs and polychora

It is an element of 9 of 28 convex uniform honeycombs:

 Cubic Truncated Snub square Elongated Gyroelongated
honeycomb square prismatic prismatic triangular triangular
honeycomb honeycomb prismatic prismatic
honeycomb honeycomb

Cantitruncated Runcitruncated Runcinated

Cantellated cubic
cubic cubic alternated cubic
honeycomb
honeycomb honeycomb honeycomb

It is also an element of five four-dimensional uniform polychora:

Cantellated 16- Runcinated Cantitruncated Runcitruncated

Tesseract
cell tesseract 16-cell 16-cell

Cubical graph
The skeleton of the cube (the vertices and edges) form a graph, with 8 vertices, and 12 Cubical graph
edges. It is a special case of the hypercube graph.[4] It is one of 5 Platonic graphs, each
a skeleton of its Platonic solid.

An extension is the three dimensional k-ary Hamming graph, which for k = 2 is the
cube graph. Graphs of this sort occur in the theory of parallel processing in computers.

Named after Q3
Vertices 8
Edges 12
Radius 3
Diameter 3
Girth 4
Automorphisms 48
Chromatic 2
number
Properties Hamiltonian,
regular,
 symmetric,
distance-regular,
distance-
transitive, 3-
vertex-
connected,
planar graph
Table of graphs and parameters

See also
Tesseract
Trapezohedron

Miscellaneous cubes

Cube (film)
Diamond cubic
Cube of Heymans
Kaaba
Necker Cube
OLAP cube
Prince Rupert's cube
Quadrilateralized spherical cube
Rubik's Cube
The Cube (game show)
Unit cube
Yoshimoto Cube

References
1. English cube from Old French < Latin cubus < Greek κύβος (kubos) meaning "a cube, a die, vertebra". In turn
from PIE *keu(b)-, "to bend, turn".
2. Park, Poo-Sung. "Regular polytope distances", Forum Geometricorum 16, 2016, 227-232.
http://forumgeom.fau.edu/FG2016volume16/FG201627.pdf
3. Weisstein, Eric W. "Cube" (https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Cube.html). MathWorld.
4. Weisstein, Eric W. "Cubical graph" (https://mathworld.wolfram.com/CubicalGraph.html). MathWorld.

External links
Weisstein, Eric W. "Cube" (https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Cube.html). MathWorld.
Cube: Interactive Polyhedron Model (https://web.archive.org/web/20071009235233/http://polyhedra.org/poly/sh
ow/1/cube)*
Volume of a cube (http://www.mathopenref.com/cubevolume.html), with interactive animation
Cube (http://www.software3d.com/Cube.php) (Robert Webb's site)
 Fundamental convex regular and uniform polytopes in dimensions 2–10
Family An Bn I2(p) / Dn E6 / E7 / E8 / F4 / G2 Hn

Regular polygon Triangle Square p-gon Hexagon Pentagon

Uniform polyhedron Tetrahedron Octahedron • Cube Demicube Dodecahedron • Icosahedron

Uniform 4-polytope 5-cell 16-cell • Tesseract Demitesseract 24-cell 120-cell • 600-cell

Uniform 5-polytope 5-simplex 5-orthoplex • 5-cube 5-demicube

Uniform 6-polytope 6-simplex 6-orthoplex • 6-cube 6-demicube 122 • 221

Uniform 7-polytope 7-simplex 7-orthoplex • 7-cube 7-demicube 132 • 231 • 321

Uniform 8-polytope 8-simplex 8-orthoplex • 8-cube 8-demicube 142 • 241 • 421

Uniform 9-polytope 9-simplex 9-orthoplex • 9-cube 9-demicube

Uniform 10-polytope 10-simplex 10-orthoplex • 10-cube 10-demicube

Uniform n-polytope n-simplex n-orthoplex • n-cube n-demicube 1k2 • 2k1 • k21 n-pentagonal polytope

Topics: Polytope families • Regular polytope • List of regular polytopes and compounds

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