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3 votes
1 answer
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The realization space of non-convex polyhedra - What is known?

The space $\mathfrak R_{\mathrm c}(P)$ of convex realizations of a (3-dimensional, spherical) polyhedron $P$ is known to be well-behaved: it is a contractible manifold of dimension $\#\text{edges}+6$ (...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
1 vote
0 answers
41 views

About the number of faces of the conification of a polytope

Let $P\subset\mathbb{R}^n$ be a polytope of dimension $(n-1)$ such that the origin $\vec{0}\not\in\text{Aff}(P)$, where $\text{Aff}(P)$ denotes the affine hull of $P$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$. Now, we ...
ElliptCg's user avatar
  • 131
3 votes
0 answers
53 views

Endpoints of intrinsic diameter of a convex polyhedron

Let $P$ be a convex polyhedron in $\mathbb{R}^3$, and $d(P)$ its intrinsic diameter, i.e., the longest shortest surface path between two points. Say that $P$ is of class $D_0$ if neither endpoint of $...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
227 views

Tiling space with supertile of hypercube unfoldings

Two students in my class asked and answered what might be a novel question. It is well known that the cube has exactly $11$ edge-unfoldings (or "nets"), as shown below:         (Image from ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
24 votes
1 answer
1k views

Which unfoldings of the $d$-dimensional hypercube tile $(d{-}1)$-space?

A six year old question, Which unfoldings of the hypercube tile $3$-space?, has just been answered by Moritz Firsching: All $261$ unfoldings tile space! So now we know: For $d=2$, the unfolding of ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
652 views

How to correctly state Cauchy's rigidity theorem?

Cauchy's rigidity theorem is often stated briefly as Any two (convex, 3-dimensional) polyhedra with pairwise congruent faces are themselves congruent. As a more formal generalization to general ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
3 votes
1 answer
84 views

Tilings of lattice polytopes by transformations of lattice polytopes

A quasi-lattice polytope is a polytope obtained by reflections, translations, and rotations of lattice polytopes. In a tiling of a lattice polytope by quasi-lattice polytopes, are all quasi-lattice ...
Display name's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
87 views

Iterated polyhedron face twisting

Let $Q$ be a polygon in the plane. Modify $Q$ by rotating each edge about its midpoint by $180^\circ$. The result is $Q$ again: No change. This suggests exploring a similar operation in $\mathbb{R}^3$...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
683 views

Alexandrov's generalization of Cauchy's rigidity theorem

Wikipedia states that A. D. Alexandrov generalized Cauchy's rigidity theorem for polyhedra to higher dimensions. The relevant statement in the article is not linked to any source. The sources at the ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
9 votes
0 answers
1k views

Maximum volume cross-section of a hypercube

This is surely well known, but: Q1. What is the $(d{-}1)$-dimensional polytope that realizes the maximum volume cross-section of a unit hypercube by a $(d{-}1)$-dimensional hyperplane? ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
27 votes
3 answers
13k views

Which unfoldings of the hypercube tile 3-space: How to check for isometric space-fillers?

Recently Mark McClure constructed and displayed the 261 unfoldings of the hypercube (tesseract) in response to the question, "3D models of the unfoldings of the hypercube?": The first 9 unfoldings ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
1k views

regular polyhedra (and polytopes) in hyperbolic geometry, and generalisations

While there exist regular tesselations of the hyperbolic plane with arbitrary regular polygons, there are no new regular polyhedra in hyperbolic (3D) space. This being quite trivial, it is probably ...
Feldmann Denis's user avatar
26 votes
2 answers
4k views

3D models of the unfoldings of the hypercube?

There are (apparently) 261 distinct unfoldings of the 4D hypercube, a.k.a., the tesseract, into 3D.1 These unfoldings (or "nets") are analogous to the 11 unfoldings of the 3D cube into the plane.2 ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
20 votes
4 answers
950 views

The limit of edge-midpoint convex polyhedra

    Starting with a convex polyhedron $P_1 \subset \mathbb{R}^3$, replace that with $P_2$, the convex hull of the midpoints of the edges of $P_1$. Continuing this process, we obtain a ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
18 votes
1 answer
678 views

Higher dimensional generalization of: Any quadrilateral tiles the plane?

Any (non-self-intersecting) quadrilateral tiles the plane.     (MathWorld image.) Q. What is the strongest known generalization of this statement to higher dimensions? I.e., $\mathbb{R}^d$ ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
13 votes
0 answers
406 views

Surface area of convex hull [duplicate]

Let Q be the convex hull of a non-convex polyhedron P. Is it true that the surface area of Q is not greater than the surface area of P?
Helen Cox's user avatar
  • 131
4 votes
0 answers
2k views

Regular cross-sections of a dodecahedron; analogous sections of 4-polytopes

One can intersect a dodecahedron with a plane and obtain an equilateral triangle, a square, a regular pentagon, a regular hexagon, and a regular decagon:             &...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
320 views

Seeking criteria for "threadable" pairs of centrosymmetric polyhedra

Let $A$ and $B$ be origin-centered centrosymmetric polyhedra in $\mathbb{R}^3$: "for every point $(x, y, z)$ [...] there is an indistinguishable point $(-x, -y, -z)$." Say that $A$ and $B$ are ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
133 views

Convex polyhedra jammed in $k$ disjoint holes

For a given convex polyhedron $P \subset \mathbb{R}^3$, I was imagining finding the optimal "fixing" of $P$ in holes (or jamming them in "mud"), which led to the following question. First, scale $P$ ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
18 votes
2 answers
986 views

"Derived" polyhedra and polytopes

The notion of derived polygon is natural and leads to remarkable convergence. Start with a polygon, and replace it by locating a point on every edge a fraction $\alpha$ between the two endpoints. For ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
14 votes
0 answers
479 views

Does every convex polyhedron have a combinatorially isomorphic counterpart whose angles between edges are rational multiples of $\pi$?

After reading these very interesting questions, I came up with another one: Does every convex polyhedron have a combinatorially isomorphic counterpart whose angles between all pairs of edges meeting ...
Piotr Shatalin's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
392 views

Convex deltahedra in higher dimensions

There are eight convex polyhedra whose faces are equilateral triangles, so-called deltahedra:        (Image from here) Q. Have the equivalent higher-dimensional ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
10 votes
0 answers
333 views

Bi-spherical polyhedra

Bicentric polygons have been studied: a polygon all of whose vertices lie on its circumcirle, and whose incircle is tangent to every edge:   I have not been able to find a comparable literature ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
326 views

Do maximal polyhedra have algebraic volume?

Is it possible to prove that for every $n > 3$ the maximal possible volume of a convex polyhedron having $n$ vertices inscribed in a sphere of unit radius is an algebraic number? Update: What can ...
Vladimir Reshetnikov's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
233 views

Equiprojective polyhedra

Seeing Garabed Gulbenkian's question (which was inspired by Joel Hamkins' question), reminds me of an analogous problem which I believe remains open, and which some might find intriguing. Define an ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
25 votes
3 answers
994 views

Does every convex polyhedron have a combinatorially isomorphic counterpart whose faces all have rational areas?

Does every convex polyhedron have a combinatorially isomorphic counterpart whose faces all have rational areas? Does every convex polyhedron have a combinatorially isomorphic counterpart whose edges ...
Liu Jin Tsai's user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
591 views

Update to Shephard's "Twenty Problems on Convex Polyhedra"

Forty-three years ago, Geoffrey Shephard published an influential list of open problems on convex polyhedra. Progress has been made on several of his problems, and perhaps some have been completely ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
523 views

When does every point in a polytope lie along a chord between its edges?

Consider the 3-simplex, or tetrahedron, in 3-space. Regardless of the positions of the vertices, every point in the simplex lies on a chord between two non-adjacent edges of the simplex. Or, ...
UltraBlue06's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
544 views

Isometric embedding a convex cap to render its boundary planar

I would like to know if there is a polyhedral analog to this beautiful theorem of Hong: Theorem 11.0.1. Any smooth positive disk $(\bar{D},g)$ with a positive geodesic curvature along $\partial ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
866 views

Not quite regular polyhedra

Take a naive interpretation of regular polyhedra: All vertices (including epsilon ball) congruent All edges congruent All faces congruent We can now find interesting families by removing one ...
Edmund Harriss's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
3k views

intersection of convex and non-convex polyhedra

I am trying to find the best appropriate way to intersect polyhedra which may be non-convex. The number of vertices that build the polyhedron is hence always small (up to 20 or so). The ...
tmaric's user avatar
  • 143
11 votes
2 answers
1k views

Which (semi)regular polyhedra are combinations of two others?

The convex combination of convex polytopes is a convex polytope. An example in $\mathbb{R}^2$ is that a regular octagon can be obtained as $\frac{1}{2} S + \frac{1}{2} S'$, where $S$ is a square and $...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar