Platonic solids

E36442

Platonic solids are the five highly symmetrical, convex polyhedra (tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron) that have identical regular polygonal faces and are fundamental in geometry and classical philosophy.


Statements (50)
Predicate Object
instanceOf class of polyhedra
geometric solids
mathematical concept
areAll convex regular polyhedra
edge-transitive polyhedra
examples of regular maps on the sphere
face-transitive polyhedra
finite polyhedra
isogonal polyhedra
isohedral polyhedra
isotoxal polyhedra
vertex-transitive polyhedra
areContrastedWith Archimedean solids
Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra
areSubsetOf convex polyhedra
regular polyhedra
associatedWith Plato
classificationCriterion regularity of faces and vertices
describedIn Book XIII of Euclid's Elements
Euclid's Elements
dualPair cube–octahedron
dodecahedron–icosahedron
tetrahedron–tetrahedron
edgeProperty same number of faces meet at each edge
existIn three-dimensional Euclidean space
faceType congruent regular polygons
hasMember cube
dodecahedron
icosahedron
octahedron
tetrahedron
hasProperty convex
highly symmetrical
regular polyhedra
haveDualityProperty each has a dual Platonic solid
haveHistoricalOrigin ancient Greek mathematics
numberOfElements 5
philosophicalRole linked to classical elements in Platonism
studiedBy Euclid
symmetryGroupType finite rotation groups
topology homeomorphic to the sphere
uniquenessProperty only five convex regular polyhedra exist in 3D Euclidean space
usedIn architecture
art
chemistry
classical philosophy
crystallography
geometry
group theory
vertexProperty same number of faces meet at each vertex

Referenced by (9)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Platonic solids ("cube–octahedron")
Platonic solids ("dodecahedron–icosahedron")
dualPair
Harmonices Mundi
explores
Platonic solids ("icosahedron")
hasMember
Plato
hasPhilosophicalConcept
Euler’s polyhedron formula
holdsFor
Felix Klein ("Lectures on the Icosahedron")
notableWork
Mysterium Cosmographicum
usesConcept
Piero della Francesca ("De quinque corporibus regularibus")
wrote

Please wait…