In geometry, John Horton Conway defines architectonic and catoptric tessellations as the uniform tessellations (or honeycombs) of Euclidean 3-space with prime space groups and their duals, as three-dimensional analogue of the Platonic, Archimedean, and Catalan tiling of the plane. The singular vertex figure of an architectonic tessellation is the dual of the cell of the corresponding catoptric tessellation, and vice versa. The cubille is the only Platonic (regular) tessellation of 3-space, and is self-dual. There are other uniform honeycombs constructed as gyrations or prismatic stacks (and their duals) which are excluded from these categories.
The pairs of architectonic and catoptric tessellations are listed below with their symmetry group. These tessellations only represent four symmetry space groups, and also all within the cubic crystal system. Many of these tessellations can be defined in multiple symmetry groups, so in each case the highest symmetry is expressed.
Ref. [1] indices | Symmetry | Architectonic tessellation | Catoptric tessellation | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name Coxeter diagram Image | Vertex figure Image | Cells | Name | Cell | Vertex figures | ||
J11,15 A1 W1 G22 δ4 | nc [4,3,4] | Cubille (Cubic honeycomb) | Octahedron, | Cubille | Cube, | | |
J12,32 A15 W14 G7 t1δ4 | nc [4,3,4] | Cuboctahedrille (Rectified cubic honeycomb) | Cuboid, | Oblate octahedrille | Isosceles square bipyramid | , | |
J13 A14 W15 G8 t0,1δ4 | nc [4,3,4] | Truncated cubille (Truncated cubic honeycomb) | Isosceles square pyramid | Pyramidille | Isosceles square pyramid | , | |
J14 A17 W12 G9 t0,2δ4 | nc [4,3,4] | 2-RCO-trille (Cantellated cubic honeycomb) | Wedge | Quarter oblate octahedrille | irr. Triangular bipyramid | , , | |
J16 A3 W2 G28 t1,2δ4 | bc [[4,3,4]] | Truncated octahedrille (Bitruncated cubic honeycomb) | Tetragonal disphenoid | Oblate tetrahedrille | Tetragonal disphenoid | | |
J17 A18 W13 G25 t0,1,2δ4 | nc [4,3,4] | n-tCO-trille (Cantitruncated cubic honeycomb) | Mirrored sphenoid | Triangular pyramidille | Mirrored sphenoid | , , | |
J18 A19 W19 G20 t0,1,3δ4 | nc [4,3,4] | 1-RCO-trille (Runcitruncated cubic honeycomb) | Trapezoidal pyramid | Square quarter pyramidille | Irr. pyramid | , , , | |
J19 A22 W18 G27 t0,1,2,3δ4 | bc [[4,3,4]] | b-tCO-trille (Omnitruncated cubic honeycomb) | Phyllic disphenoid | Eighth pyramidille | Phyllic disphenoid | , | |
J21,31,51 A2 W9 G1 hδ4 | fc [4,31,1] | Tetroctahedrille (Tetrahedral-octahedral honeycomb) or | Cuboctahedron, | Dodecahedrille or | Rhombic dodecahedron, | , | |
J22,34 A21 W17 G10 h2δ4 | fc [4,31,1] | truncated tetraoctahedrille (Truncated tetrahedral-octahedral honeycomb) or | Rectangular pyramid | Half oblate octahedrille or | rhombic pyramid | , , | |
J23 A16 W11 G5 h3δ4 | fc [4,31,1] | 3-RCO-trille (Cantellated tetrahedral-octahedral honeycomb) or | Truncated triangular pyramid | Quarter cubille | irr. triangular bipyramid | ||
J24 A20 W16 G21 h2,3δ4 | fc [4,31,1] | f-tCO-trille (Cantitruncated tetrahedral-octahedral honeycomb) or | Mirrored sphenoid | Half pyramidille | Mirrored sphenoid | ||
J25,33 A13 W10 G6 qδ4 | d [[3[4]]] | Truncated tetrahedrille (Cyclotruncated tetrahedral-octahedral honeycomb) or | Isosceles triangular prism | Oblate cubille | Trigonal trapezohedron |
The vertex figures of all architectonic honeycombs, and the dual cells of all catoptric honeycombs are shown below, at the same scale and the same orientation:
These four symmetry groups are labeled as:
Label | Description | space group Intl symbol | Geometric notation [2] | Coxeter notation | Fibrifold notation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
bc | bicubic symmetry or extended cubic symmetry | (221) Im3m | I43 | [[4,3,4]] | 8°:2 |
nc | normal cubic symmetry | (229) Pm3m | P43 | [4,3,4] | 4−:2 |
fc | half-cubic symmetry | (225) Fm3m | F43 | [4,31,1] = [4,3,4,1+] | 2−:2 |
d | diamond symmetry or extended quarter-cubic symmetry | (227) Fd3m | Fd4n3 | [[3[4]]] = [[1+,4,3,4,1+]] | 2+:2 |
In geometry, a convex uniform honeycomb is a uniform tessellation which fills three-dimensional Euclidean space with non-overlapping convex uniform polyhedral cells.
A cuboctahedron is a polyhedron with 8 triangular faces and 6 square faces. A cuboctahedron has 12 identical vertices, with 2 triangles and 2 squares meeting at each, and 24 identical edges, each separating a triangle from a square. As such, it is a quasiregular polyhedron, i.e., an Archimedean solid that is not only vertex-transitive but also edge-transitive. It is radially equilateral. Its dual polyhedron is the rhombic dodecahedron.
In elementary geometry, a polytope is a geometric object with flat sides (faces). Polytopes are the generalization of three-dimensional polyhedra to any number of dimensions. Polytopes may exist in any general number of dimensions n as an n-dimensional polytope or n-polytope. For example, a two-dimensional polygon is a 2-polytope and a three-dimensional polyhedron is a 3-polytope. In this context, "flat sides" means that the sides of a (k + 1)-polytope consist of k-polytopes that may have (k – 1)-polytopes in common.
In geometry, a 4-polytope is a four-dimensional polytope. It is a connected and closed figure, composed of lower-dimensional polytopal elements: vertices, edges, faces (polygons), and cells (polyhedra). Each face is shared by exactly two cells. The 4-polytopes were discovered by the Swiss mathematician Ludwig Schläfli before 1853.
In mathematics, a regular polytope is a polytope whose symmetry group acts transitively on its flags, thus giving it the highest degree of symmetry. In particular, all its elements or j-faces — cells, faces and so on — are also transitive on the symmetries of the polytope, and are themselves regular polytopes of dimension j≤ n.
In geometry, a polytope or a tiling is isogonal or vertex-transitive if all its vertices are equivalent under the symmetries of the figure. This implies that each vertex is surrounded by the same kinds of face in the same or reverse order, and with the same angles between corresponding faces.
In geometry, the triangular tiling or triangular tessellation is one of the three regular tilings of the Euclidean plane, and is the only such tiling where the constituent shapes are not parallelogons. Because the internal angle of the equilateral triangle is 60 degrees, six triangles at a point occupy a full 360 degrees. The triangular tiling has Schläfli symbol of {3,6}.
The cubic honeycomb or cubic cellulation is the only proper regular space-filling tessellation in Euclidean 3-space made up of cubic cells. It has 4 cubes around every edge, and 8 cubes around each vertex. Its vertex figure is a regular octahedron. It is a self-dual tessellation with Schläfli symbol {4,3,4}. John Horton Conway called this honeycomb a cubille.
The tetrahedral-octahedral honeycomb, alternated cubic honeycomb is a quasiregular space-filling tessellation in Euclidean 3-space. It is composed of alternating regular octahedra and tetrahedra in a ratio of 1:2.
The bitruncated cubic honeycomb is a space-filling tessellation in Euclidean 3-space made up of truncated octahedra. It has 4 truncated octahedra around each vertex. Being composed entirely of truncated octahedra, it is cell-transitive. It is also edge-transitive, with 2 hexagons and one square on each edge, and vertex-transitive. It is one of 28 uniform honeycombs.
The quarter cubic honeycomb, quarter cubic cellulation or bitruncated alternated cubic honeycomb is a space-filling tessellation in Euclidean 3-space. It is composed of tetrahedra and truncated tetrahedra in a ratio of 1:1. It is called "quarter-cubic" because its symmetry unit – the minimal block from which the pattern is developed by reflections – is four times that of the cubic honeycomb.
The tetragonal disphenoid tetrahedral honeycomb is a space-filling tessellation in Euclidean 3-space made up of identical tetragonal disphenoidal cells. Cells are face-transitive with 4 identical isosceles triangle faces. John Horton Conway calls it an oblate tetrahedrille or shortened to obtetrahedrille.
In geometry, a honeycomb is a space filling or close packing of polyhedral or higher-dimensional cells, so that there are no gaps. It is an example of the more general mathematical tiling or tessellation in any number of dimensions. Its dimension can be clarified as n-honeycomb for a honeycomb of n-dimensional space.
In geometry, a tessellation of dimension 2 or higher, or a polytope of dimension 3 or higher, is isohedral or face-transitive if all its faces are the same. More specifically, all faces must be not merely congruent but must be transitive, i.e. must lie within the same symmetry orbit. In other words, for any two faces A and B, there must be a symmetry of the entire figure by translations, rotations, and/or reflections that maps A onto B. For this reason, convex isohedral polyhedra are the shapes that will make fair dice.
The triangular prismatic honeycomb or triangular prismatic cellulation is a space-filling tessellation in Euclidean 3-space. It is composed entirely of triangular prisms.
In geometry, a skew apeirohedron is an infinite skew polyhedron consisting of nonplanar faces or nonplanar vertex figures, allowing the figure to extend indefinitely without folding round to form a closed surface.
In geometry, a uniform honeycomb or uniform tessellation or infinite uniform polytope, is a vertex-transitive honeycomb made from uniform polytope facets. All of its vertices are identical and there is the same combination and arrangement of faces at each vertex. Its dimension can be clarified as n-honeycomb for an n-dimensional honeycomb.
In geometry, a regular skew apeirohedron is an infinite regular skew polyhedron. They have either skew regular faces or skew regular vertex figures.