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Semiregular polytope

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3D honeycombs

Simple tetroctahedric check

Complex tetroctahedric check
4D polytopes

Tetroctahedric

Octicosahedric

Tetricosahedric

In geometry, by Thorold Gosset's definition a semiregular polytope is usually taken to be a polytope that is vertex-uniform and has all its facets being regular polytopes. E.L. Elte compiled a longer list in 1912 as The Semiregular Polytopes of the Hyperspaces which included a wider definition.

Gosset's list

In three-dimensional space and below, the terms semiregular polytope and uniform polytope have identical meanings, because all uniform polygons must be regular. However, since not all uniform polyhedra are regular, the number of semiregular polytopes in dimensions higher than three is much smaller than the number of uniform polytopes in the same number of dimensions.

The three convex semiregular polychora (4-polytopes) are the rectified 5-cell, snub 24-cell and rectified 600-cell. The only semiregular polytopes in higher dimensions are the k21 polytopes, where the rectified 5-cell is the special case of k = 0.

Semiregular polytopes can be extended to semiregular honeycombs. The semiregular Euclidean honeycombs are the tetrahedral-octahedral honeycomb (3D), gyrated alternated cubic honeycomb (3D) and the 521 honeycomb (8D).

Semiregular figures Gosset enumerated: (his names in parentheses)

Beyond Gosset's list

There are also hyperbolic uniform honeycombs composed of only regular cells, including:

See also

References

  • Coxeter, H. S. M. (1973). Regular Polytopes (3rd ed.). New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-61480-8.
  • Gosset, Thorold (1900). "On the regular and semi-regular figures in space of n dimensions". Messenger of Mathematics. 29: 43–48.
  • Elte, E. L. (1912). The Semiregular Polytopes of the Hyperspaces. Groningen: University of Groningen. ISBN 1-4181-7968-X.