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.

1172 questions
2
votes
1 answer

Demi dodecahedron - what is it?

What is a demi dodecahedron? I have not been able to find the geometry of a demi dodecahedron. From latin, what makes a polygon a demi dodecahedron? Can a demi dodecahedron possibly contain 9 faces? I have to document a complex structure that is…
2
votes
1 answer

What is the complete list of radially equilateral polyhedra?

On the Wikipedia article for cuboctahedron, it states at follows. The cuboctahedron is the unique convex polyhedron in which the long radius (center to vertex) is the same as the edge length[...] This [is known as] radial equilateral…
ViHdzP
  • 4,582
  • 2
  • 18
  • 44
2
votes
1 answer

Does Voronoi tessellation in 3D always produce convex polyhedrons?

I'm more or less certain that the Voronoi tessellations (using Euclidean distance measure) produce convex polygons/polyhedrons. Is there a way to prove this mathematically? Or am I wrong? I am especially interested in 3D case. On a side note, can a…
2
votes
1 answer

is it possible to number the edges of a polyhedron so that the sum of the edge-numbers of each face is the same/

i found this in a puzzle book. Number the edges of a cube from 1 to 12 so that the sum of the edges of each face is the same. I could find a solution by trial and error. But it raises the general question. Is the solution unique? How many…
2
votes
0 answers

Total number of ways to paint great rhombicosadodecahedron with n colors

Is there a general formula for the total number of ways to paint a great rhombicosadodecahedron using n colors? What about for the total number of unique ways?
Will
  • 21
  • 1
2
votes
1 answer

What does "modulo polyhedra with lines" mean?

I have done some reading about integer points in polyhedra, and in one of the books I have come across the definition: "Let $f$,$g$ be polyhedra. $f$ $\equiv$ $g$ modulo polyhedra with lines provided the difference $f-g$ is a linear combination of…
Kris
  • 21
1
vote
1 answer

Find volume of parallelepiped where all faces are rhombuses with edge $a$ and angle $60^\circ$.

Find volume of parallelepiped where all faces are rhombuses with edge $a$ and angle $60^\circ$. I first noticed that $\dfrac{h}a=\sin60^\circ$, so I easly found that height of the rhombus is $h=\dfrac{a\sqrt3}2$. Then I easy calculated area of the…
user164524
1
vote
1 answer

How do you know at least one face is not simply connected on a polyhedra?

if it has 14 vertices, 21 edges and 9 faces, its boundary is a single surface and there is at least one hole. I dont understand.
1
vote
1 answer

Finding the vertices of a rhombic dodecahedron

I'm trying to figure out a straightforward way to find the vertex (x,y,z) coords for a rhombic dodecahedron. Besides starting with a rhombus and rotating it around at the proper angles, I have no idea. I need it for a little graphics project I'm…
Nick
  • 231
1
vote
0 answers

Standard for intrinsic polyhedron definition using angular deficit?

Is there a standard definition of a given polyhedron using only intrinsic properties (those which can be measured by a 2d being living on its surface) and particularly angular deficit at a vertex (plus definition of relative position of…
1
vote
0 answers

Are there any applications for editing 2d Schlegel diagrams and then projecting them back onto a 3d polyhedron?

I'm trying to create some (hopefully) interesting polyhedra with Robert Webb's Great Stella / Stella 4D, but even its power users seem to only be able to do this kind of thing indirectly (or via importing .off or .dxf files), whereas I'd like to do…
1
vote
3 answers

A name for convex polyhedra with regular polygons as faces

Is there a name for the class of polyhedra that are (a) convex, and (b) have regular polygons for faces? I don't want to invent a name if a name already exists. Call the class P. P would include, the 'cap' of an icosahedron, i.e. the 5 triangles…
Martin
  • 11
1
vote
1 answer

Is any finite subset of $S^2$ satisfying the following properties, the vertex set of a regular convex polyhedron?

Let $S^2 \subset \mathbb{R}^3$ denote the standard unit sphere. Let $A \subset S^2$ be a finite set satisfying each of the following properties: For each $a,a' \in A$ there exists a rotation $R$ (the action of a 3x3 orthogonal matrix) such that…
I.A.S. Tambe
  • 2,431
1
vote
1 answer

Example of a polyhedron with dihedral symmetry and small number of faces

From a comment following this question I see that some polyhedra have dihedral symmetry. I don't understand what the would be like. Rather than getting technical, can you provide a simple example of such a polyhedron?
Ted Ersek
  • 1,207
  • 8
  • 14
1
vote
1 answer

A polyhedron has $38$ faces (only squares and triangles) and $60$ edges. Find the ratio of square faces to triangle faces.

A polyhedron consists of faces only of squares and equilateral triangles. Given that it has $38$ faces and $60$ edges, find the ratio of square faces to triangular faces. What I tried so far: I let $x$ be the number of squares and $y$ be the…