Questions tagged [polyhedra]

For questions related to polyhedra and their properties.

A polyhedron is a solid in $3$ dimensions with flat polygonal faces, straight edges and vertices. Two faces must join at each edge, and at least three must join at each vertex.

Examples consist of cubes, pyramids, stellations, etc.

Polyhedra can be defined in one of two main ways. They can be defined as a bounded intersection of half-planes, or as a connected set of polygons. The former definition restricts us to convex shapes, which are better behaved, while the latter is more relaxed, permitting star faces and face configurations.

In a convex polyhedron with $F$ faces, $E$ edges and $V$ vertices, the formula $$F-E+V=2$$ is satisfied. This is known as Euler's polyhedron formula.

Another useful result is that in a convex polyhedron, the angles of each of the faces at each vertex add up to less than $2\pi$, and the sum of all defects equals $4\pi$. This is known as Descartes' Theorem.

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volume of polyhedra which correspond to icosahedral fullerenes

There is, I believe, a sequence of polyhedra whose shape approaches that of the icosahedron (they all have twelve pentagonal faces and the rest hexagons), and starts: regular dodecahedron (C$_{12}$, dodecahedrane) truncated icosahedron (C$_{60}$,…
graveolensa
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Minimum number of faces needed to make regular icosahedron rigid?

Imagine you are constructing regular polyhedra from rigid equilateral triangles, squares, and regular pentagons. Adjacent faces will be connected edge-to-edge by freely-swinging hinges. The minimum number of faces of a regular tetrahedron one needs…
Glen Whitney
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Lower bound on the number of faces of a polyhedron of genus g

Is there a lower bound on the number of faces of a polyhedron of topological genus g? For example: it seems very reasonable that $g$ < $F$ i.e. the genus of a polehydron is less than the number of faces of the polyhedron, but i can't find a…
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Time to roll through subterranean chords

Imagine a spherical airless body. It is small enough that central pressure allows a tunnel to be built from north pole to the south pole. I jump in the tunnel at the north pole and fall to the south pole. How long would it take me? What I believe to…
HopDavid
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Convex Polyhedron problem

I want to prove it isn't possible to make a football (a convex polyhedron such that at least 3 edges meet at each vertex) out of exactly 9 squares and m octagons where $m>3$.
Raul
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Every convex polyhedron has a stable face

Recently stumbled across the idea of monostatic polytopes, and I was reminded of an old book I'd read that gave a "proof" that every polyhedron has at least one stable face. Since such a polyhedron would continuously fall over, it could be used to…
eyeballfrog
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How can you prove that every polyhedron can be dissected into tetrahedrons?

I have always loosely accepted the fact that any polyhedron can be dissected into tetrahedrons just like any polygon can be dissected into triangles. But how can I prove precisely that any polyhedron no matter their homeomorphic difference can be…
Roxane Min
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What shape is this?

im doing a question that involves a shape with 8 faces, 10 vertices and 16 edges. Can anyone enlighten me as to what this shape is called? Many Thanks
user8291
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A new regular polyhedron?

A friend of mine, Jose Joel Leonardo, is claiming to have discover a new "regular" polyhedron, or, at least, a new type of regular polyhedron. Can anyone tell whether he is right or not? Below there is a image with a model from which you would be…
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trying to grasp disphenoid tetrahedral honeycomb, what are the dihedral angles?

What are the dihedral angles in a disphenoid with four identical triangles, each having one edge of length $2$ and two edges of length $\sqrt{3}$? Tried to look it up, but couldn't find it...
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Does a polyhedron with 7 hexagons and 20 pentagons exist?

A beautiful polyhedron with 20 hexagons and 60 pentagons can be seen here: http://robertlovespi.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/a-polyhedron-with-80-faces/ . Euler formula and the corresponding Diophantine equation give a smaller possible combination: 7…
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Forming a polyhedron from concave polygonal faces.

A polyhedron is a convex, three dimensional region bounded by a finite number of polygonal faces. So is it possible that some of those polygonal faces be concave ? Can concave polygons be used in the process to form a 3D convex region ?
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Are there any other solids like the pseudo-rhombicuboctahedron (Miller's solid)?

In An enduring error, Branko Grünbaum discusses the question of defining the Archimedean solids, noting the case of the 'pseudo-rhombicuboctahedron', sometimes called Miller's solid and shown on the right above, as opposed to the…
John1970
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Does a polyhedron with 16 quadrilateral faces exist?

I have just seen here the picture of a polyhedron with 15 quadrilateral faces. In some lists of polyhedra a big variety of quadrilateral sides can be found (12, 13, 15, 18, 20,...) but the number 16 is missing. I have some idea how it can be…
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Example of a geometric realisation of a polyhedron which does not have a geometric dual?

It appears that, based on Branko Grünbaum's paper "Are Your Polyhedra the Same as My Polyhedra?" (PDF link via washington.edu), some geometric polyhedra don't have a dual that is also geometric (though it exists as an abstract polyhedra). However,…
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