Skip to main content

All Questions

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
7 votes
1 answer
159 views

Alexandrov's rigidity in higher dimensions

If $\Phi_1,\Phi_2$ are convex polyhedra in $\mathbb{R}^3$ such that the sets of outer normals to facets coincide, but $\Phi_1$ is not a translate of $\Phi_2$, then there exist two corresponding ...
Fedor Petrov'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
4 votes
0 answers
153 views

Perimeters of nested convex spherical polygons

I seek a reference—not a proof—that if $P_1$ and $P_2$ are two convex polygons on a sphere composed of geodesic segments, contained in a hemisphere, and $P_1 \subseteq P_2$, then the ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
26 votes
7 answers
3k views

What's that shape? Inferring a 3D shape from random shadows

Let $P$ be a bounded, simply connected region of $\mathbb{R}^3$. $P$ could be a polyhedron, or a smooth shape, or an arbitrary shape; I'll assume below that $P$ is a (non-degenerate, perhaps non-...
Joseph O'Rourke'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
4 votes
1 answer
143 views

Polyhedra with minimal edge length

Given a fixed volume and fixed surface area I would like to construct polyhedra that minimize the total length of the edges. This seems like a straight-forward problem to solve by brute force for ...
Rodrigo's user avatar
  • 41
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
7 votes
3 answers
805 views

Wrapping a convex polyhedron with string

This is a meta-question, rather than a specific mathematical question. I am seeking a mathematical definition that captures the following physical idea. Suppose you have a convex polyhedron $P \...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
3k views

What nets fold to polyhedra?

There is a classic (and open) problem asking whether every polyhedron can be unfolded to give a non-overlapping net. The converse problem has been studied asking which polygons can be folded in some ...
Edmund Harriss's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
543 views

Maximum volume convex body coverable by a unit square

Suppose you are given a single unit square, and you are permitted to cut it into $k$ (connected) pieces (where $k=1$ means just the square). Your task is to construct the largest volume convex body ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
45 votes
1 answer
2k views

Pach's "Animals": What if the genus is positive?

Janos Pach asked a deep question 23 years ago (1988) that remains unsolved today: Can every animal—a topological ball in $\mathbb{R^3}$ composed of unit cubes glued face-to-face—be ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
1k views

Floating polyhedra with fair equilibria

Is there a homogeneous convex polyhedron which floats so that some subset (perhaps all) of its faces is distinguished as "up" (above the water line) in stable equilibrium, each face with equal ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
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