Math Story : Cuboid And Its Basic Properties

Squarho And His New Bed

Squarho is really busy. It looks like he is making something. But what?

“What are you doing Squarho?” asks Cirho. “I am making the world’s best bed. Just wait and watch”, answers Squarho proudly. “Oh really? Fine, I will wait here”, says Cirho.

Squarho cuts many big squares and starts fixing them. What do you think his design might look like?

Fixing the final piece, Squarho says, “Yayy! I am done!” His bed looks really nice and different. Do you think it’s the best bed design in the world?

“Well done”, says Cirho looking at the bed. “Come on let us sit on the top”, says Squarho. Immediately they start to climb on the bed. But they cannot reach the top. But why?

Jump! Jump! They jump a few times but cannot reach the top. Oh no! Squarho’s new bed is too tall for them to climb. But, they don’t give up.

“Up! Up!” They are trying hard to reach the top. Finally, they reach the top. “Uff! Indeed a different bed”, mocks Cirho. “Ding, Ding!” Suddenly the doorbell rings. “Oh no! Who is it?” Cirho questions from the top of the bed.

It is Uncle Math. “I’ll go and open the door”, says Squarho and jumps down to reach the floor. “Smash!” He crashes on the floor while jumping from such a height. Uncle Math helps him to get up.

“The door was open. I heard a loud sound so ran to help you. Are you okay?” says Uncle Math. Squarho explains everything to him. Uncle Math bursts into laughter.

“All the faces and sides of your bed are equal Squarho. You built a cube shape bed. You did not think about climbing the bed and made all the sides equal. Yes, your bed is unique but not usable”, says Uncle Math.

Squarho is disappointed. “Do not be sad. We will reconstruct your bed. But this time we will have to reduce its height and keep the width the same.” says Uncle Math. Squarho immediately lightens up.

Cirho, Squarho, and Uncle Math make a new bed together. Each face of the bed is in a rectangle shape. Since the shape is a rectangle, the opposite faces will be the same and the sides need not be equal. Thus the height of the bed is less this time.

“Wow! I can jump on the bed easily now”, says Squarho as he happily jumps on the bed. Cirho also join him. They enjoy playing on it.

Uncle Math smiles and says, “Now your bed is in Cuboid shape. A cuboid has 6 faces, 8 vertices, and 12 edges. Just like you noticed, each face of a cuboid is a rectangle”.

“Thanks, a lot Uncle Math. The large cube bed would have made people’s life really hard. Now I clearly understand that however unique the product is, if it is hard to use, it is not the best product”, says Squarho. Cirho agrees with him. Uncle Math is happy to teach them a useful lesson. It was a purposeful day indeed.

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We Learnt That…

• A cuboid is a 3D shape.
• Cuboid has 6 faces, 8 vertex, and 12 edges.
• All the faces of a cuboid are rectangular in shape.
• However unique the product is, if it is hard to use, it is not the best product.

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Let’s Discuss!

• What was I making?
• What was the shape of the bed that Uncle Math made? Why was it better?
• “However unique the product is, if it is hard to use, it is not the best product.” Do you agree? Why or why not?

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• Solid Shapes