Spherical polyhedron

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The most familiar spherical polyhedron is the football, thought of as a spherical truncated icosahedron. Comparison of truncated icosahedron and soccer ball.png
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. Much of the theory of symmetrical polyhedra is most conveniently derived in this way.

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

The first known man-made polyhedra are spherical polyhedra carved in stone. Many have been found in Scotland, and appear to date from the neolithic period (the New Stone Age).

During the 10th Century, the Islamic scholar Abū al-Wafā' Būzjānī (Abu'l Wafa) wrote the first serious study of spherical polyhedra.

Two hundred years ago, at the start of the 19th Century, Poinsot used spherical polyhedra to discover the four regular star polyhedra.

In the middle of the 20th Century, Coxeter used them to enumerate all but one of the uniform polyhedra, through the construction of kaleidoscopes (Wythoff construction).

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 [1] (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: [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler–Poinsot polyhedron</span> Any of 4 regular star polyhedra

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Octahedron</span> Polyhedron with eight triangular faces

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.

<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 shape with flat polygonal faces, straight edges and sharp corners or vertices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4-polytope</span> Four-dimensional geometric object with flat sides

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.

<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, 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 Latin stella, "star". Stellation is the reciprocal or dual process to faceting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Truncated icosidodecahedron</span> Archimedean solid

In geometry, a truncated icosidodecahedron, rhombitruncated icosidodecahedron, great rhombicosidodecahedron, omnitruncated dodecahedron or omnitruncated icosahedron is an Archimedean solid, one of thirteen convex, isogonal, non-prismatic solids constructed by two or more types of regular polygon faces.

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. It follows that all vertices are congruent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Final stellation of the icosahedron</span> Outermost stellation of the icosahedron

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

In geometry, a 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">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">Petrie polygon</span> Skew polygon derived from a polytope

In geometry, a Petrie polygon for a regular polytope of n dimensions is a skew polygon in which every n – 1 consecutive sides belongs to one of the facets. The Petrie polygon of a regular polygon is the regular polygon itself; that of a regular polyhedron is a skew polygon such that every two consecutive sides belongs to one of the faces. Petrie polygons are named for mathematician John Flinders Petrie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regular 4-polytope</span> Four-dimensional analogues of the regular polyhedra in three dimensions

In mathematics, a regular 4-polytope or regular polychoron is a regular four-dimensional polytope. They are the four-dimensional analogues of the regular polyhedra in three dimensions and the regular polygons in two dimensions.

In geometry, the regular skew polyhedra are generalizations to the set of regular polyhedra which include the possibility of nonplanar faces or vertex figures. Coxeter looked at skew vertex figures which created new 4-dimensional regular polyhedra, and much later Branko Grünbaum looked at regular skew faces.

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.

References

  1. McMullen, Peter; Schulte, Egon (2002). "6C. Projective Regular Polytopes". Abstract Regular Polytopes. Cambridge University Press. pp.  162–5. ISBN   0-521-81496-0.
  2. 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.

Further reading