Mathematical Origami
Platonic Solids
Platonic Solids are the most regular polyhedra: all faces are the same regular polygon, and they look the same at every vertex. The Greek philosopher Plato discovered that there are only five solids with these properties. He believed that the they correspond to the four ancient Elements, Earth, Water, Air and Fire, as well as the Universe.
Archimedean Solids
Archimedean Solids, like the Platonic ones, consist of regular Polygons and look the same at every vertex. However the faces are multiple different regular polygons. There are 13 Archimedean Solids, two of which are reflections of each other. Explore 3D models on Polypad…
Truncated Tetrahedron
Cuboctahedron
Truncated Hexahedron
Truncated Octahedron
Rhombicuboctahedron
Truncated Cuboctahedron
Snub Cube
Icosidodecahedron
Truncated Dodecahedron
Truncated Icosahedron
Rhombicosidodecahedron
Truncated Icosidodecahedron
Snub Dodecahedron
Stars and Compounds
Beautiful Origami
Further Reading
Octahedron
The Octahedron has eight triangular faces. It is the “dual” solid of the cube. Plato believed it represents the ancient element Air. Many natural crystals are based on an octahedral lattice – including diamond, alum or fluorite.
Created by Philipp Legner, design by David Mitchell