Cuboctahedron | |
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(Click here for rotating model) | |
Type | Archimedean solid Uniform polyhedron |
Elements | F = 14, E = 24, V = 12 (χ = 2) |
Faces by sides | 8{3}+6{4} |
Conway notation | aC aaT |
Schläfli symbols | r{4,3} or rr{3,3} or |
t1{4,3} or t0,2{3,3} | |
Wythoff symbol | 2 | 3 4 3 3 | 2 |
Coxeter diagram | or or |
Symmetry group | Oh, B3, [4,3], (*432), order 48 Td, [3,3], (*332), order 24 |
Rotation group | O, [4,3]+, (432), order 24 |
Dihedral angle | |
References | U 07, C 19, W 11 |
Properties | Semiregular convex quasiregular |
Colored faces | 3.4.3.4 (Vertex figure) |
Rhombic dodecahedron (dual polyhedron) | Net |
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. [1] It is radially equilateral.
Its dual polyhedron is the rhombic dodecahedron.
The cuboctahedron was probably known to Plato: Heron's Definitiones quotes Archimedes as saying that Plato knew of a solid made of 8 triangles and 6 squares. [2]
The cuboctahedron has four special orthogonal projections, centered on a vertex, an edge, and the two types of faces, triangular and square. The last two correspond to the B2 and A2 Coxeter planes. The skew projections show a square and hexagon passing through the center of the cuboctahedron.
Square Face | Triangular Face | Vertex | Edge | Skew | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
[4] | [6] | [2] | [2] | ||
Rhombic dodecahedron (Dual polyhedron) | |||||
The cuboctahedron can also be represented as a spherical tiling, and projected onto the plane via a stereographic projection. This projection is conformal, preserving angles but not areas or lengths. Straight lines on the sphere are projected as circular arcs on the plane.
orthographic projection | square-centered | triangle-centered | Vertex centered |
---|---|---|---|
Stereographic projection |
The Cartesian coordinates for the vertices of a cuboctahedron (of edge length ) centered at the origin [4] are:
An alternate set of coordinates can be made in 4-space, as 12 permutations of:
This construction exists as one of 16 orthant facets of the cantellated 16-cell.
The cuboctahedron's 12 vertices can represent the root vectors of the simple Lie group A3. With the addition of 6 vertices of the octahedron, these vertices represent the 18 root vectors of the simple Lie group B3.
The area A and the volume V of the cuboctahedron of edge length a are:
The cuboctahedron can be dissected into 6 square pyramids and 8 tetrahedra meeting at a central point. This dissection is expressed in the tetrahedral-octahedral honeycomb where pairs of square pyramids are combined into octahedra.
The cuboctahedron can be dissected into two triangular cupolas by a common hexagon passing through the center of the cuboctahedron. [lower-alpha 1] If these two triangular cupolas are twisted so triangles and squares line up, Johnson solid J27, the triangular orthobicupola, is created.
In a cuboctahedron, the long radius (center to vertex) is the same as the edge length; thus its long diameter (vertex to opposite vertex) is 2 edge lengths. Its center is like the apical vertex of a pyramid: one edge length away from all the other vertices. (In the case of the cuboctahedron, the center is in fact the apex of 6 square and 8 triangular pyramids). This radial equilateral symmetry is a property of only a few uniform polytopes, including the two-dimensional hexagon, the three-dimensional cuboctahedron, and the four-dimensional 24-cell and 8-cell (tesseract). Radially equilateral polytopes are those which can be constructed, with their long radii, from equilateral triangles which meet at the center of the polytope, each contributing two radii and an edge. Therefore, all the interior elements which meet at the center of these polytopes have equilateral triangle inward faces, as in the dissection of the cuboctahedron into 6 square pyramids and 8 tetrahedra.
Each of these radially equilateral polytopes also occurs as cells of a characteristic space-filling tessellation: the tiling of regular hexagons, the rectified cubic honeycomb (of alternating cuboctahedra and octahedra), the 24-cell honeycomb and the tesseractic honeycomb, respectively. Each tessellation has a dual tessellation; the cell centers in a tessellation are cell vertices in its dual tessellation. The densest known regular sphere-packing in two, three and four dimensions uses the cell centers of one of these tessellations as sphere centers.
A cuboctahedron has octahedral symmetry. Its first stellation is the compound of a cube and its dual octahedron, with the vertices of the cuboctahedron located at the midpoints of the edges of either.
A cuboctahedron can be obtained by taking an equatorial cross section of a four-dimensional 24-cell or 16-cell. A hexagon or a square can be obtained by taking an equatorial cross section of a cuboctahedron.
The cuboctahedron is a rectified cube and also a rectified octahedron.
It is also a cantellated tetrahedron. With this construction it is given the Wythoff symbol: 3 3 | 2.
A skew cantellation of the tetrahedron produces a solid with faces parallel to those of the cuboctahedron, namely eight triangles of two sizes, and six rectangles. While its edges are unequal, this solid remains vertex-uniform: the solid has the full tetrahedral symmetry group and its vertices are equivalent under that group.
The edges of a cuboctahedron form four regular hexagons. If the cuboctahedron is cut in the plane of one of these hexagons, each half is a triangular cupola, one of the Johnson solids; the cuboctahedron itself thus can also be called a triangular gyrobicupola, the simplest of a series (other than the gyrobifastigium or "digonal gyrobicupola"). If the halves are put back together with a twist, so that triangles meet triangles and squares meet squares, the result is another Johnson solid, the triangular orthobicupola, also called an anticuboctahedron.
Both triangular bicupolae are important in sphere packing. The distance from the solid's center to its vertices is equal to its edge length. Each central sphere can have up to twelve neighbors, and in a face-centered cubic lattice these take the positions of a cuboctahedron's vertices. In a hexagonal close-packed lattice they correspond to the corners of the triangular orthobicupola. In both cases the central sphere takes the position of the solid's center.
Cuboctahedra appear as cells in three of the convex uniform honeycombs and in nine of the convex uniform 4-polytopes.
The volume of the cuboctahedron is 5/6 of that of the enclosing cube and 5/8 of that of the enclosing octahedron.
Because it is radially equilateral, the cuboctahedron's center is one edge length distant from the 12 vertices.
The cuboctahedron shares its edges and vertex arrangement with two nonconvex uniform polyhedra: the cubohemioctahedron (having the square faces in common) and the octahemioctahedron (having the triangular faces in common), both have four hexagons. It also serves as a cantellated tetrahedron, as being a rectified tetratetrahedron.
Cuboctahedron | its equator | Cubohemioctahedron | Octahemioctahedron |
The cuboctahedron 2-covers the tetrahemihexahedron, [5] which accordingly has the same abstract vertex figure (two triangles and two squares: 3.4.3.4) and half the vertices, edges, and faces. (The actual vertex figure of the tetrahemihexahedron is 3.4.3/2.4, with the a/2 factor due to the cross.)
Cuboctahedron | Tetrahemihexahedron |
When interpreted as a framework of rigid flat faces, connected along the edges by hinges, the cuboctahedron is a rigid structure, as are all convex polyhedra, by Cauchy's theorem. However, when the faces are removed, leaving only rigid edges connected by flexible joints at the vertices, the result is not a rigid system (unlike polyhedra whose faces are all triangles, to which Cauchy's theorem applies despite the missing faces).
Adding a central vertex, connected by rigid edges to all the other vertices, subdivides the cuboctahedron into square pyramids and tetrahedra, meeting at the central vertex. Unlike the cuboctahedron itself, the resulting system of edges and joints is rigid, and forms part of the infinite octet truss structure.
The cuboctahedron is one of a family of uniform polyhedra related to the cube and regular octahedron.
Uniform octahedral polyhedra | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Symmetry: [4,3], (*432) | [4,3]+ (432) | [1+,4,3] = [3,3] (*332) | [3+,4] (3*2) | |||||||
{4,3} | t{4,3} | r{4,3} r{31,1} | t{3,4} t{31,1} | {3,4} {31,1} | rr{4,3} s2{3,4} | tr{4,3} | sr{4,3} | h{4,3} {3,3} | h2{4,3} t{3,3} | s{3,4} s{31,1} |
= | = | = | = or | = or | = | |||||
| | | | | ||||||
Duals to uniform polyhedra | ||||||||||
V43 | V3.82 | V(3.4)2 | V4.62 | V34 | V3.43 | V4.6.8 | V34.4 | V33 | V3.62 | V35 |
The cuboctahedron also has tetrahedral symmetry with two colors of triangles.
Family of uniform tetrahedral polyhedra | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Symmetry: [3,3], (*332) | [3,3]+, (332) | ||||||
{3,3} | t{3,3} | r{3,3} | t{3,3} | {3,3} | rr{3,3} | tr{3,3} | sr{3,3} |
Duals to uniform polyhedra | |||||||
V3.3.3 | V3.6.6 | V3.3.3.3 | V3.6.6 | V3.3.3 | V3.4.3.4 | V4.6.6 | V3.3.3.3.3 |
The cuboctahedron exists in a sequence of symmetries of quasiregular polyhedra and tilings with vertex configurations (3.n)2, progressing from tilings of the sphere to the Euclidean plane and into the hyperbolic plane. With orbifold notation symmetry of *n32 all of these tilings are wythoff construction within a fundamental domain of symmetry, with generator points at the right angle corner of the domain. [6] [7]
*n32 orbifold symmetries of quasiregular tilings: (3.n)2 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Construction | Spherical | Euclidean | Hyperbolic | ||||
*332 | *432 | *532 | *632 | *732 | *832... | *∞32 | |
Quasiregular figures | |||||||
Vertex | (3.3)2 | (3.4)2 | (3.5)2 | (3.6)2 | (3.7)2 | (3.8)2 | (3.∞)2 |
*n42 symmetry mutations of quasiregular tilings: (4.n)2 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Symmetry *4n2 [n,4] | Spherical | Euclidean | Compact hyperbolic | Paracompact | Noncompact | |||
*342 [3,4] | *442 [4,4] | *542 [5,4] | *642 [6,4] | *742 [7,4] | *842 [8,4]... | *∞42 [∞,4] | [ni,4] | |
Figures | ||||||||
Config. | (4.3)2 | (4.4)2 | (4.5)2 | (4.6)2 | (4.7)2 | (4.8)2 | (4.∞)2 | (4.ni)2 |
This polyhedron is topologically related as a part of sequence of cantellated polyhedra with vertex figure (3.4.n.4), and continues as tilings of the hyperbolic plane. These vertex-transitive figures have (*n32) reflectional symmetry.
*n32 symmetry mutation of expanded tilings: 3.4.n.4 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Symmetry *n32 [n,3] | Spherical | Euclid. | Compact hyperb. | Paracomp. | ||||
*232 [2,3] | *332 [3,3] | *432 [4,3] | *532 [5,3] | *632 [6,3] | *732 [7,3] | *832 [8,3]... | *∞32 [∞,3] | |
Figure | ||||||||
Config. | 3.4.2.4 | 3.4.3.4 | 3.4.4.4 | 3.4.5.4 | 3.4.6.4 | 3.4.7.4 | 3.4.8.4 | 3.4.∞.4 |
The cuboctahedron can be decomposed into a regular octahedron and eight irregular but equal octahedra in the shape of the convex hull of a cube with two opposite vertices removed. This decomposition of the cuboctahedron corresponds with the cell-first parallel projection of the 24-cell into three dimensions. Under this projection, the cuboctahedron forms the projection envelope, which can be decomposed into six square faces, a regular octahedron, and eight irregular octahedra. These elements correspond with the images of six of the octahedral cells in the 24-cell, the nearest and farthest cells from the 4D viewpoint, and the remaining eight pairs of cells, respectively.
Cuboctahedral graph | |
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Vertices | 12 |
Edges | 24 |
Automorphisms | 48 |
Properties | |
Table of graphs and parameters |
In the mathematical field of graph theory, a cuboctahedral graph is the graph of vertices and edges of the cuboctahedron, one of the Archimedean solids. It can also be constructed as the line graph of the cube. It has 12 vertices and 24 edges, is locally linear, and is a quartic Archimedean graph. [8]
6-fold symmetry |
In geometry, a cube is a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets, or sides, with three meeting at each vertex. Viewed from a corner, it is a hexagon and its net is usually depicted as a cross.
In geometry, an icosidodecahedron 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. The term is most commonly used to refer to the regular octahedron, a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet at each vertex.
In geometry, the rhombicuboctahedron, or small rhombicuboctahedron, is a polyhedron with eight triangular, six square, and twelve rectangular faces. There are 24 identical vertices, with one triangle, one square, and two rectangles meeting at each one. If all the rectangles are themselves square, it is an Archimedean solid. The polyhedron has octahedral symmetry, like the cube and octahedron. Its dual is called the deltoidal icositetrahedron or trapezoidal icositetrahedron, although its faces are not really true trapezoids.
In geometry, the truncated tetrahedron is an Archimedean solid. It has 4 regular hexagonal faces, 4 equilateral triangle faces, 12 vertices and 18 edges. It can be constructed by truncating all 4 vertices of a regular tetrahedron at one third of the original edge length.
In geometry, the truncated octahedron is the Archimedean solid that arises from a regular octahedron by removing six pyramids, one at each of the octahedron's vertices. The truncated octahedron has 14 faces, 36 edges, and 24 vertices. Since each of its faces has point symmetry the truncated octahedron is a 6-zonohedron. It is also the Goldberg polyhedron GIV(1,1), containing square and hexagonal faces. Like the cube, it can tessellate 3-dimensional space, as a permutohedron.
In geometry, the truncated cube, or truncated hexahedron, is an Archimedean solid. It has 14 regular faces, 36 edges, and 24 vertices.
In geometry, the truncated cuboctahedron or great rhombicuboctahedron is an Archimedean solid, named by Kepler as a truncation of a cuboctahedron. It has 12 square faces, 8 regular hexagonal faces, 6 regular octagonal faces, 48 vertices, and 72 edges. Since each of its faces has point symmetry, the truncated cuboctahedron is a 9-zonohedron. The truncated cuboctahedron can tessellate with the octagonal prism.
In four-dimensional geometry, the 24-cell is the convex regular 4-polytope (four-dimensional analogue of a Platonic solid) with Schläfli symbol {3,4,3}. It is also called C24, or the icositetrachoron, octaplex (short for "octahedral complex"), icosatetrahedroid, octacube, hyper-diamond or polyoctahedron, being constructed of octahedral cells.
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, 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}.
In four-dimensional geometry, a cantellated tesseract is a convex uniform 4-polytope, being a cantellation of the regular tesseract.
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.
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.
In the field of hyperbolic geometry, the order-4 hexagonal tiling honeycomb arises as one of 11 regular paracompact honeycombs in 3-dimensional hyperbolic space. It is paracompact because it has cells composed of an infinite number of faces. Each cell is a hexagonal tiling whose vertices lie on a horosphere: a flat plane in hyperbolic space that approaches a single ideal point at infinity.
In the geometry of hyperbolic 3-space, the square tiling honeycomb is one of 11 paracompact regular honeycombs. It is called paracompact because it has infinite cells, whose vertices exist on horospheres and converge to a single ideal point at infinity. Given by Schläfli symbol {4,4,3}, it has three square tilings, {4,4}, around each edge, and six square tilings around each vertex, in a cubic {4,3} vertex figure.
The skeleton of a cuboctahedron, considering its edges as rigid beams connected at flexible joints at its vertices but omitting its faces, does not have structural rigidity and consequently its vertices can be repositioned by folding at edges and face diagonals. The cuboctahedron's kinematics is noteworthy in that its vertices can be repositioned to the vertex positions of the regular icosahedron, the Jessen's icosahedron, and the regular octahedron, in accordance with the pyritohedral symmetry of the icosahedron.