Cube and cuboid are three-dimensional shapes that consist of six faces, eight vertices and twelve edges. The primary difference between them is a cube has all its sides equal whereas the length, width and height of a cuboid are different. Both shapes look almost the same but have different properties. The area and volume of cube, cuboid and also cylinder differ from each other.

In everyday life, we have seen many objects like a wooden box, a matchbox, a tea packet, a chalk box, a dice, a book, etc are encountered. All these objects have a similar shape. In fact, all these objects are made of six rectangular planes or square planes. In mathematics, the shape of these objects is either a cuboid or cube. Here, in this article, we will learn the difference between cube and cuboid shapes with the help of their properties and formulas of surface area and volume.

Table of contents:

• Definition
• Shape
• Properties of Cuboid
  • Faces
  • Base and Lateral Face
  • Edges
  • Vertices
• Properties of Cube
• Formulas
  • Surface area
  • Volume
  • Diagonal Length
  • Perimeter
• Example Questions
• Video Lesson
• FAQs

Definition of Cube and Cuboid Shape

The cube and cuboid shapes in Maths are three-dimensional shapes. The cube and cuboid are obtained from the rotation of the two-dimensional shapes called square and rectangle respectively.

Cube: A cube is a three-dimensional shape that is defined XYZ plane. It has six faces, eight vertices and twelve edges. All the faces of the cube are in square shape and have equal dimensions.

Cuboid: A cuboid is also a polyhedron having six faces, eight vertices and twelve edges. The faces of the cuboid are parallel. But not all the faces of a cuboid are equal in dimensions.

Hence, cube and cuboid shapes have six faces, eight vertices and twelve edges.

Difference Between Cube and Cuboid

The difference between the cube and cuboid shapes are as follows:

• The sides of the cube are equal but for cuboid they are different.
• The sides of the cube are square in shape but for cuboid, they are in a rectangular shape.
• All the diagonals of the cube are equal but a cuboid has equal diagonals for only parallel sides.

Learn more differences between cube and cuboid here.

Cube and Cuboid Shape

As we already know both cube and cuboid are in 3D shape, whose axes go along the x-axis, y-axis and z-axis plane. Now let us learn in detail.

A cuboid is a closed 3-dimensional geometrical figure bounded by six rectangular plane regions.

Properties of a Cuboid

Below are the properties of cuboid, its faces, base and lateral faces, edges and vertices.

Faces of Cuboid

A Cuboid is made up of six rectangles, each of the rectangles is called the face. In the figure above, ABFE, DAEH, DCGH, CBFG, ABCD and EFGH are the 6 faces of cuboid.

The top face ABCD and bottom face EFGH form a pair of opposite faces. Similarly, ABFE, DCGH, and DAEH, CBFG are pairs of opposite faces. Any two faces other than the opposite faces are called adjacent faces.

Consider a face ABCD, the adjacent face to this are ABFE, BCGF, CDHG, and ADHE.

Base and lateral faces

Any face of a cuboid may be called the base of the cuboid. The four faces which are adjacent to the base are called the lateral faces of the cuboid. Usually, the surface on which a solid rests on is known to be the base of the solid.

In Figure (1) above, EFGH represents the base of a cuboid.

Edges

The edge of the cuboid is a line segment between any two adjacent vertices.

There are 12 edges, they are AB, AD, AE, HD, HE, HG, GF, GC, FE, FB, EF and CD and the opposite sides of a rectangle are equal.

Hence, AB=CD=GH=EF, AE=DH=BF=CG and EH=FG=AD=BC.

Vertices of Cuboid

The point of intersection of the 3 edges of a cuboid is called the vertex of a cuboid.

A cuboid has 8 vertices A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H represents vertices of the cuboid in fig 1.

By observation, the twelve edges of a cuboid can be grouped into three groups, such that all edges in one group are equal in length, so there are three distinct groups and the groups are named as length, breadth and height.

A solid having its length, breadth, height all to be equal in measurement is called a cube. A cube is a solid bounded by six square plane regions, where the side of the cube is called the edge.

Properties of Cube

• A cube has six faces and twelve edges of equal length.
• It has square-shaped faces.
• The angles of the cube in the plane are at a right angle.
• Each face of the cube meets four other faces.
• Each vertex of the cube meets three faces and three edges.
• The opposite edges of the cube are parallel to each other.

Cube and Cuboid Formulas

The formulas for cube and cuboid shapes are defined based on their surface areas, lateral surface areas and volume.

Surface Area of Cube and Cuboid

The surface area of a cuboid is equal to the sum of the areas of its six rectangular faces.

Consider a cuboid having the length to be ‘l’ cm, breadth be ‘b’ cm and height be ‘h’ cm.

• Area of face EFGH = Area of Face ABCD = (l× b) cm²
• Area of face BFGC = Area of face AEHD = (b ×h) cm²
• Area of face DHGC = Area of face ABFE = (l ×h) cm²

Total surface area of a cuboid = Sum of the areas of all its 6 rectangular faces

Example: If the length, breadth and height of a cuboid are 5 cm, 3 cm and 4 cm, then find its total surface area.

Given, Length, l = 5 cm, Breadth, b = 3 cm and Height, h = 4 cm.

TSA = 2(lb+bh+lh)

TSA = 2(5 x 3 + 3 x 4 + 5 x 4)

TSA = 2(15 + 12 + 20)

TSA = 2(47) = 94 sq.cm.

Lateral surface area of a Cuboid:

The sum of surface areas of all faces except the top and bottom face of solid is defined as the lateral surface area of a solid.

Consider a Cuboid of length, breadth and height to be l, b and h respectively.

Lateral surface area of the cuboid= Area of face ADHE + Area of face BCGF + Area of face ABFE + Area of face DCGH

=2(b × h) + 2(l × h)

=2h(l + b)

Surface Area of a Cube:

For cube, length = breadth = height

Suppose the length of an edge = l

Hence, surface area of the cube = 2(l × l +l × l + l × l) = 2 x 3l²  = 6l²

Lateral surface area of a Cube:

Formula to find Lateral surface area of the cube is:
2(l × l + l × l) = 4l²

Volume of the Cube and Cuboid

Volume of Cuboid:

The volume of the cuboid is equal to the product of the area of one surface and height.

Volume of the cuboid = (length × breadth × height) cubic units

Volume of the Cube:

The volume of the cube is equal to the product of the area of the cube and height. As we know already, all the edges of the cube are of the same length. Hence,

Volume of the cube = l² × h

Since, l = h

Therefore,

Volume of the cube = l² × l

For More Information On Volumes of Cubes and Cuboid, Watch The Below Video:

Diagonal of Cube and Cuboid

The length of diagonal of the cuboid is given by:
Diagonal of the cuboid =√( l² + b² +h²)

The length of diagonal of a cube is given by:

Diagonal of a cube = √3l

Perimeter of Cube and Cuboid

The perimeter of the cuboid is based on its length, width and height. Since the cuboid has 12 edges and the value of its edges are different from each other, therefore, the perimeter is given by:

Perimeter of a cuboid =  4 (l + b + h)

where l is the length

b is the breadth

h is the height

The perimeter of the cube also depends upon the number of edges it has and the length of the edges. Since the cube has 12 edges and all the edges have equal length, therefore the perimeter of the cube is given by:

Perimeter of a cube =  12l

where l is the length of the edge of the cube.

Also, read:

Example Problems on Cube and Cuboid Shape

Example 1: 

Find the total surface area of the cuboid with dimensions 2 inches × 3 inches × 7 inches.

Solution:

Total Surface Area(TSA) = 2 (lb + bh + hl )

TSA = 2 ( 2×3 + 3×7 + 7×2)

TSA = 2 ( 6 + 21 + 14 )

TSA = 82

So, the total surface area of this cuboid is 82 inches²

Example 2: 

The length, width and height of a cuboid are 12 cm, 13 cm and 15 cm, respectively. Find the lateral surface area of a cuboid.

Solution:

Lateral surface area of a cuboid is given by:

LSA = 2h ( l + w )

LSA = 2×15 ( 12 + 13 )

LSA = 750 cm²

Example 3:

Find the surface area of a cube having its sides equal to 8 cm in length.

Solution: Given length, ‘a’= 8 cm

Surface area = 6a²

= 6× 8²

= 6 ×64

= 384 cm²

Example 4: 

If the side length of the cube shape object is 3 cm and the dimensions of the cuboid-shaped object are 2 cm × 4 cm × 6 cm. Find the volume of cube and cuboid shaped objects. 

Solution:

Given: Side length of cube, l = 3 cm.

We know that the volume of cube = l³  cubic units.

The volume of cube-shaped object = 3³ = 27 cm³.

Given: Dimension of the cuboid-shaped object = 2 cm × 4 cm × 6 cm.

We know that the volume of cuboid = lbh cubic units 

The volume of cuboid-shaped object = 2 cm × 4 cm × 6 cm = 48 cm³.

Therefore, the volume of the cube and cuboid shaped object are 27 cm³ and 48 cm³ respectively.

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