Your American History Reference Guide! - List of regular polytopes
List of regular polytopes
This page lists the regular polytopes in Euclidean space .
Two dimensional regular polytopes
The two dimensional convex regular polytopes are regular polygons .
There exist also non-convex regular polytopes in two dimensions, whose Schläfli symbols consist of rational numbers. An incomplete list of examples is as follows:
The pentagram (five-pointed star), with Schläfli symbol {5/2}
Two different types of seven-pointed star, with Schläfli symbols {7/2} and {7/3}
An eight-pointed star, with Schläfli symbol {8/3}
Two different types of nine-pointed star, with Schläfli symbols {9/2} and {9/4}
and so on, ad infinitum.
Three dimensional regular polytopes
In three dimensions, the convex regular polytopes (or polyhedra ) are the Platonic solids .
The tetrahedron , with Schläfli symbol {3,3}, faces are triangles, vertex figures are also triangles.
The cube , with Schläfli symbol {4,3}, faces are squares, vertex figures are triangles.
The octahedron , with Schläfli symbol {3,4}, faces are triangles, vertex figures are squares.
The dodecahedron , with Schläfli symbol {5,3}, faces are pentagons, vertex figures are triangles.
The icosahedron , with Schläfli symbol {3,5}, faces are triangles, vertex figures are pentagons.
There exist also non-convex regular polyhedra. These are the
Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra .
The great stellated dodecahedron , with Schläfli symbol {5/2,3}, faces are pentagrams, vertex figures are triangles.
The small stellated dodecahedron , with Schläfli symbol {5/2,5}, faces are pentagrams, vertex figures are pentagons.
The great icosahedron , with Schläfli symbol {3,5/2}, faces are triangles, vertex figures are pentagrams.
The great dodecahedron , with Schläfli symbol {5,5/2}, faces are pentagons, vertex figures are pentagrams.
Four dimensional regular polytopes
In four dimensions, the convex regular polytopes are as follows.
The 4-dimensional simplex , with Schläfli symbol {3,3,3}, faces and vertex figures are tetrahedra.
The 24-cell , with Schläfli symbol {3,4,3}, faces are octahedra, vertex figures are cubes.
The 4-dimensional cube , also called a hypercube or tesseract , with Schläfli symbol {4,3,3}, faces are cubes, vertex figures are tetrahedra.
The 4-dimensional cross-polytope , with Schläfli symbol {3,3,4}, faces are tetrahedra, vertex figures are octahedra.
The 120-cell , with Schläfli symbol {5,3,3}, faces are dodecahedra, vertex figures are tetrahedra.
The 600-cell , with Schläfli symbol {3,3,5}, faces are tetrahedra, vertex figures are icosahedra.
There exist also ten non-convex regular polytopes in four dimensions.
The stellated 120-cell , with Schläfli symbol {5/2,5,3}
The great 120-cell , with Schläfli symbol {5,5/2,5}
The icosahedral 120-cell , with Schläfli symbol {3,5,5/2}
The great stellated 120-cell , with Schläfli symbol {5/2,3,5}
The grand 120-cell , with Schläfli symbol {5,3,5/2}
The grand stellated 120-cell , with Schläfli symbol {5/2,5,5/2}
The great icosahderal 120-cell , with Schläfli symbol {3,5/2,5}
The great grand 120-cell , with Schläfli symbol {5,5/2,3}
The great grand stellated 120-cell , with Schläfli symbol {5/2,3,3}
The grand 600-cell , with Schläfli symbol {3,3,5/2}
Higher dimensional regular polytopes
In dimensions higher than 4, there are only three kinds of convex regular polytopes.
n -dimensional simplex , with Schläfli symbol {3,...,3}
n -dimensional cube , also called a hypercube or tesseract , with Schläfli symbol {4,3,...,3}
n -dimensional cross-polytope , with Schläfli symbol {3,...,3,4}
There are no non-convex regular polytopes in dimensions higher than 4.
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Last updated: 10-15-2005 15:15:05