What is the difference between a quadrangular prism and a parallelepiped?

So as to answer this question, we need to start with the definition of each concept. The prism is a geometric solid and it is known as being a convex polyhedron having two congruent and parallel bases (equal polyhedrons). Depending on the number of sides of the polygon which forms the bases, we can have: triangular prism (its base is a triangle); quadrangular prism (its base i a quadrilateral); pentagonal prism (its base is a pentagon); hexagonal prism (its base is a hexagon) and so on.

A parallelepiped is the designation given to a prism whose faces are parallelograms. When we are referring to bases we also include the bases. It happens that the base of a quadrangular prism can be a kite. Having in mind that a kite is a quadrilateral, but not a parallelogram, we can conclude that not all the quadrangular prisms can be called parallelepipeds. But the contrary is true: all the parallelepipeds are necessarily quadrangular prisms!

And... what about the cube? Everybody knows that it is a polyhedron composed of 6 square faces (parallelograms). According to this definition we arrive to the conclusion that a cube is a quadrangular prism and so it is also a parallelepiped.

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