Spherical polyhedron

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One of the most familiar spherical polyhedron is the football, thought of as a spherical truncated icosahedron. Comparison of truncated icosahedron and soccer ball.png
One of the most familiar spherical polyhedron is the football, thought of as a spherical truncated icosahedron.
This beach ball would be a hosohedron with 6 spherical lune faces, if the 2 white caps on the ends were removed. BeachBall.jpg
This beach ball would be a hosohedron with 6 spherical lune faces, if the 2 white caps on the ends were removed.

In geometry, a spherical polyhedron or spherical tiling is a tiling of the sphere in which the surface is divided or partitioned by great arcs into bounded regions called spherical polygons . A polyhedron whose vertices are equidistant from its center can be conveniently studied by projecting its edges onto the sphere to obtain a corresponding spherical polyhedron.

Contents

The most familiar spherical polyhedron is the soccer ball, thought of as a spherical truncated icosahedron. The next most popular spherical polyhedron is the beach ball, thought of as a hosohedron.

Some "improper" polyhedra, such as hosohedra and their duals, dihedra, exist as spherical polyhedra, but their flat-faced analogs are degenerate. The example hexagonal beach ball, {2, 6}, is a hosohedron, and {6, 2} is its dual dihedron.

History

During the 10th Century, the Islamic scholar Abū al-Wafā' Būzjānī (Abu'l Wafa) studied spherical polyhedra as part of a work on the geometry needed by craftspeople and architects. [1]

The work of Buckminster Fuller on geodesic domes in the mid 20th century triggered a boom in the study of spherical polyhedra. [2] At roughly the same time, Coxeter used them to enumerate all but one of the uniform polyhedra, through the construction of kaleidoscopes (Wythoff construction). [3]

Examples

All regular polyhedra, semiregular polyhedra, and their duals can be projected onto the sphere as tilings:

Schläfli
symbol
{p,q}t{p,q}r{p,q}t{q,p}{q,p}rr{p,q}tr{p,q}sr{p,q}
Vertex
config.
pqq.2p.2pp.q.p.qp.2q.2qqpq.4.p.44.2q.2p3.3.q.3.p
Tetrahedral
symmetry
(3 3 2)
Uniform tiling 332-t0-1-.png
33
Uniform tiling 332-t01-1-.png
3.6.6
Uniform tiling 332-t1-1-.png
3.3.3.3
Uniform tiling 332-t12.png
3.6.6
Uniform tiling 332-t2.png
33
Uniform tiling 332-t02.png
3.4.3.4
Uniform tiling 332-t012.png
4.6.6
Spherical snub tetrahedron.png
3.3.3.3.3
Spherical triakis tetrahedron.png
V3.6.6
Spherical dual octahedron.png
V3.3.3.3
Spherical triakis tetrahedron.png
V3.6.6
Spherical rhombic dodecahedron.png
V3.4.3.4
Spherical tetrakis hexahedron.png
V4.6.6
Uniform tiling 532-t0.png
V3.3.3.3.3
Octahedral
symmetry
(4 3 2)
Uniform tiling 432-t0.png
43
Uniform tiling 432-t01.png
3.8.8
Uniform tiling 432-t1.png
3.4.3.4
Uniform tiling 432-t12.png
4.6.6
Uniform tiling 432-t2.png
34
Uniform tiling 432-t02.png
3.4.4.4
Uniform tiling 432-t012.png
4.6.8
Spherical snub cube.png
3.3.3.3.4
Spherical triakis octahedron.png
V3.8.8
Spherical rhombic dodecahedron.png
V3.4.3.4
Spherical tetrakis hexahedron.png
V4.6.6
Spherical deltoidal icositetrahedron.png
V3.4.4.4
Spherical disdyakis dodecahedron.png
V4.6.8
Spherical pentagonal icositetrahedron.png
V3.3.3.3.4
Icosahedral
symmetry
(5 3 2)
Uniform tiling 532-t0.png
53
Uniform tiling 532-t01.png
3.10.10
Uniform tiling 532-t1.png
3.5.3.5
Uniform tiling 532-t12.png
5.6.6
Uniform tiling 532-t2.png
35
Uniform tiling 532-t02.png
3.4.5.4
Uniform tiling 532-t012.png
4.6.10
Spherical snub dodecahedron.png
3.3.3.3.5
Spherical triakis icosahedron.png
V3.10.10
Spherical rhombic triacontahedron.png
V3.5.3.5
Spherical pentakis dodecahedron.png
V5.6.6
Spherical deltoidal hexecontahedron.png
V3.4.5.4
Spherical disdyakis triacontahedron.png
V4.6.10
Spherical pentagonal hexecontahedron.png
V3.3.3.3.5
Dihedral
example
(p=6)
(2 2 6)
Hexagonal dihedron.png
62
Dodecagonal dihedron.png
2.12.12
Hexagonal dihedron.png
2.6.2.6
Spherical hexagonal prism.svg
6.4.4
Hexagonal Hosohedron.svg
26
Spherical truncated trigonal prism.png
2.4.6.4
Spherical truncated hexagonal prism.png
4.4.12
Spherical hexagonal antiprism.svg
3.3.3.6
Tiling of the sphere by spherical triangles (icosahedron with some of its spherical triangles distorted). Sphere5tesselation.gif
Tiling of the sphere by spherical triangles (icosahedron with some of its spherical triangles distorted).
n234567...
n-Prism
(2 2 p)
Tetragonal dihedron.png Spherical triangular prism.svg Spherical square prism2.png Spherical pentagonal prism.svg Spherical hexagonal prism2.png Spherical heptagonal prism.svg ...
n-Bipyramid
(2 2 p)
Spherical digonal bipyramid2.svg Spherical trigonal bipyramid.svg Spherical square bipyramid2.svg Spherical pentagonal bipyramid.svg Spherical hexagonal bipyramid2.png Spherical heptagonal bipyramid.svg ...
n-Antiprism Spherical digonal antiprism.svg Spherical trigonal antiprism.svg Spherical square antiprism.svg Spherical pentagonal antiprism.svg Spherical hexagonal antiprism.svg Spherical heptagonal antiprism.svg ...
n-Trapezohedron Spherical digonal antiprism.svg Spherical trigonal trapezohedron.svg Spherical tetragonal trapezohedron.svg Spherical pentagonal trapezohedron.svg Spherical hexagonal trapezohedron.svg Spherical heptagonal trapezohedron.svg ...

Improper cases

Spherical tilings allow cases that polyhedra do not, namely hosohedra: figures as {2,n}, and dihedra: figures as {n,2}. Generally, regular hosohedra and regular dihedra are used.

Family of regular hosohedra · *n22 symmetry mutations of regular hosohedral tilings: nn
SpaceSphericalEuclidean
Tiling
name
Henagonal
hosohedron
Digonal
hosohedron
Trigonal
hosohedron
Square
hosohedron
Pentagonal
hosohedron
... Apeirogonal
hosohedron
Tiling
image
Spherical henagonal hosohedron.svg Spherical digonal hosohedron.svg Spherical trigonal hosohedron.svg Spherical square hosohedron.svg Spherical pentagonal hosohedron.svg ... Apeirogonal hosohedron.svg
Schläfli
symbol
{2,1}{2,2}{2,3}{2,4}{2,5}...{2,∞}
Coxeter
diagram
CDel node 1.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.pngCDel node 1.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.pngCDel node 1.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.pngCDel 3.pngCDel node.pngCDel node 1.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.pngCDel 4.pngCDel node.pngCDel node 1.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.pngCDel 5.pngCDel node.png...CDel node 1.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.pngCDel infin.pngCDel node.png
Faces and
edges
12345...
Vertices22222...2
Vertex
config.
22.2232425...2
Family of regular dihedra · *n22 symmetry mutations of regular dihedral tilings: nn
SpaceSphericalEuclidean
Tiling
name
Monogonal
dihedron
Digonal
dihedron
Trigonal
dihedron
Square
dihedron
Pentagonal
dihedron
... Apeirogonal
dihedron
Tiling
image
Monogonal dihedron.svg Digonal dihedron.svg Trigonal dihedron.svg Tetragonal dihedron.svg Pentagonal dihedron.svg ... Apeirogonal tiling.svg
Schläfli
symbol
{1,2}{2,2}{3,2}{4,2}{5,2}...{∞,2}
Coxeter
diagram
CDel node 1.pngCDel 1x.pngCDel node.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.pngCDel node 1.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.pngCDel node 1.pngCDel 3.pngCDel node.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.pngCDel node 1.pngCDel 4.pngCDel node.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.pngCDel node 1.pngCDel 5.pngCDel node.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.png...CDel node 1.pngCDel infin.pngCDel node.pngCDel 2x.pngCDel node.png
Faces2 {1} 2 {2} 2 {3} 2 {4} 2 {5} ...2 {∞}
Edges and
vertices
12345...
Vertex
config.
1.12.23.34.45.5...∞.∞

Relation to tilings of the projective plane

Spherical polyhedra having at least one inversive symmetry are related to projective polyhedra [4] (tessellations of the real projective plane) – just as the sphere has a 2-to-1 covering map of the projective plane, projective polyhedra correspond under 2-fold cover to spherical polyhedra that are symmetric under reflection through the origin.

The best-known examples of projective polyhedra are the regular projective polyhedra, the quotients of the centrally symmetric Platonic solids, as well as two infinite classes of even dihedra and hosohedra: [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regular icosahedron</span> Convex polyhedron with 20 triangular faces

In geometry, the regular icosahedron is a convex polyhedron that can be constructed from pentagonal antiprism by attaching two pentagonal pyramids with regular faces to each of its pentagonal faces, or by putting points onto the cube. The resulting polyhedron has 20 equilateral triangles as its faces, 30 edges, and 12 vertices. It is an example of a Platonic solid and of a deltahedron. The icosahedral graph represents the skeleton of a regular icosahedron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Icosidodecahedron</span> Archimedean solid with 32 faces

In geometry, an icosidodecahedron or pentagonal gyrobirotunda is a polyhedron with twenty (icosi) triangular faces and twelve (dodeca) pentagonal faces. An icosidodecahedron has 30 identical vertices, with two triangles and two pentagons meeting at each, and 60 identical edges, each separating a triangle from a pentagon. As such, it is one of the Archimedean solids and more particularly, a quasiregular polyhedron.

In geometry, an octahedron is a polyhedron with eight faces. One special case is the regular octahedron, a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet at each vertex. Regular octahedra occur in nature as crystal structures. Many types of irregular octahedra also exist, including both convex and non-convex shapes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polyhedron</span> 3D shape with flat faces, straight edges and sharp corners

In geometry, a polyhedron is a three-dimensional figure with flat polygonal faces, straight edges and sharp corners or vertices.

In geometry, a Platonic solid is a convex, regular polyhedron in three-dimensional Euclidean space. Being a regular polyhedron means that the faces are congruent regular polygons, and the same number of faces meet at each vertex. There are only five such polyhedra:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Truncated icosahedron</span> A polyhedron resembling a soccerball

In geometry, the truncated icosahedron is a polyhedron that can be constructed by truncating all of the regular icosahedron's vertices. Intuitively, it may be regarded as footballs that are typically patterned with white hexagons and black pentagons. It can be found in the application of geodesic dome structures such as those whose architecture Buckminster Fuller pioneered are often based on this structure. It is an example of an Archimedean solid, as well as a Goldberg polyhedron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stellation</span> Extending the elements of a polytope to form a new figure

In geometry, stellation is the process of extending a polygon in two dimensions, a polyhedron in three dimensions, or, in general, a polytope in n dimensions to form a new figure. Starting with an original figure, the process extends specific elements such as its edges or face planes, usually in a symmetrical way, until they meet each other again to form the closed boundary of a new figure. The new figure is a stellation of the original. The word stellation comes from the Latin stellātus, "starred", which in turn comes from the Latin stella, "star". Stellation is the reciprocal or dual process to faceting.

A regular polyhedron is a polyhedron whose symmetry group acts transitively on its flags. A regular polyhedron is highly symmetrical, being all of edge-transitive, vertex-transitive and face-transitive. In classical contexts, many different equivalent definitions are used; a common one is that the faces are congruent regular polygons which are assembled in the same way around each vertex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hosohedron</span> Spherical polyhedron composed of lunes

In spherical geometry, an n-gonalhosohedron is a tessellation of lunes on a spherical surface, such that each lune shares the same two polar opposite vertices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uniform polyhedron</span> Isogonal polyhedron with regular faces

In geometry, a uniform polyhedron has regular polygons as faces and is vertex-transitive—there is an isometry mapping any vertex onto any other. It follows that all vertices are congruent. Uniform polyhedra may be regular, quasi-regular, or semi-regular. The faces and vertices don't need to be convex, so many of the uniform polyhedra are also star polyhedra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Truncation (geometry)</span> Operation that cuts polytope vertices, creating a new facet in place of each vertex

In geometry, a truncation is an operation in any dimension that cuts polytope vertices, creating a new facet in place of each vertex. The term originates from Kepler's names for the Archimedean solids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digon</span> Polygon with 2 sides and 2 vertices

In geometry, a bigon, digon, or a 2-gon, is a polygon with two sides (edges) and two vertices. Its construction is degenerate in a Euclidean plane because either the two sides would coincide or one or both would have to be curved; however, it can be easily visualised in elliptic space. It may also be viewed as a representation of a graph with two vertices, see "Generalized polygon".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monogon</span> Polygon with one edge and one vertex

In geometry, a monogon, also known as a henagon, is a polygon with one edge and one vertex. It has Schläfli symbol {1}.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dihedron</span> Polyhedron with 2 faces

A dihedron is a type of polyhedron, made of two polygon faces which share the same set of n edges. In three-dimensional Euclidean space, it is degenerate if its faces are flat, while in three-dimensional spherical space, a dihedron with flat faces can be thought of as a lens, an example of which is the fundamental domain of a lens space L(p,q). Dihedra have also been called bihedra, flat polyhedra, or doubly covered polygons.

In geometry, a star polyhedron is a polyhedron which has some repetitive quality of nonconvexity giving it a star-like visual quality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snub (geometry)</span> Geometric operation applied to a polyhedron

In geometry, a snub is an operation applied to a polyhedron. The term originates from Kepler's names of two Archimedean solids, for the snub cube and snub dodecahedron.

In geometry, a (globally) projective polyhedron is a tessellation of the real projective plane. These are projective analogs of spherical polyhedra – tessellations of the sphere – and toroidal polyhedra – tessellations of the toroids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geodesic polyhedron</span> Polyhedron made from triangles that approximates a sphere

A geodesic polyhedron is a convex polyhedron made from triangles. They usually have icosahedral symmetry, such that they have 6 triangles at a vertex, except 12 vertices which have 5 triangles. They are the dual of corresponding Goldberg polyhedra, of which all but the smallest one have mostly hexagonal faces.

References

  1. Sarhangi, Reza (September 2008). "Illustrating Abu al-Wafā' Būzjānī: Flat images, spherical constructions". Iranian Studies. 41 (4): 511–523. doi:10.1080/00210860802246184.
  2. Popko, Edward S. (2012). Divided Spheres: Geodesics and the Orderly Subdivision of the Sphere. CRC Press. p. xix. ISBN   978-1-4665-0430-1. Buckminster Fuller's invention of the geodesic dome was the biggest stimulus for spherical subdivision research and development.
  3. Coxeter, H.S.M.; Longuet-Higgins, M.S.; Miller, J.C.P. (1954). "Uniform polyhedra". Phil. Trans. 246 A (916): 401–50. JSTOR   91532.
  4. McMullen, Peter; Schulte, Egon (2002). "6C. Projective Regular Polytopes". Abstract Regular Polytopes. Cambridge University Press. pp.  162–5. ISBN   0-521-81496-0.
  5. Coxeter, H.S.M. (1969). "§21.3 Regular maps'". Introduction to Geometry (2nd ed.). Wiley. pp.  386–8. ISBN   978-0-471-50458-0. MR   0123930.