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Monostatic Polytope
In geometry, a monostatic polytope (or unistable polyhedron) is a ''d''-polytope which "can stand on only one face". They were described in 1969 by J.H. Conway, M. Goldberg, R.K. Guy and K.C. Knowlton. The monostatic polytope in 3-space constructed independently by Guy and Knowlton has 19 faces. In 2012, Andras Bezdek discovered an 18 face solution, and in 2014, Alex Reshetov published a 14 face object. Definition A polytope is called monostatic if, when filled homogeneously, it is stable on only one facet. Alternatively, a polytope is monostatic if its centroid (the center of mass) has an orthogonal projection in the interior of only one facet. Properties * No convex polygon in the plane is monostatic. This was shown by V. Arnold via reduction to the four-vertex theorem. * There are no monostatic simplices in dimension up to 8. In dimension 3 this is due to Conway. In dimension up to 6 this is due to R.J.M. Dawson. Dimensions 7 and 8 were ruled out by R.J.M. Dawson, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is called a ''geometer''. Until the 19th century, geometry was almost exclusively devoted to Euclidean geometry, which includes the notions of point, line, plane, distance, angle, surface, and curve, as fundamental concepts. During the 19th century several discoveries enlarged dramatically the scope of geometry. One of the oldest such discoveries is Carl Friedrich Gauss' ("remarkable theorem") that asserts roughly that the Gaussian curvature of a surface is independent from any specific embedding in a Euclidean space. This implies that surfaces can be studied ''intrinsically'', that is, as stand-alone spaces, and has been expanded into the theory of manifolds and Riemannian geometry. Later in the 19th century, it appeared that geometries ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orthogonal Projection
In linear algebra and functional analysis, a projection is a linear transformation P from a vector space to itself (an endomorphism) such that P\circ P=P. That is, whenever P is applied twice to any vector, it gives the same result as if it were applied once (i.e. P is idempotent). It leaves its image unchanged. This definition of "projection" formalizes and generalizes the idea of graphical projection. One can also consider the effect of a projection on a geometrical object by examining the effect of the projection on points in the object. Definitions A projection on a vector space V is a linear operator P : V \to V such that P^2 = P. When V has an inner product and is complete (i.e. when V is a Hilbert space) the concept of orthogonality can be used. A projection P on a Hilbert space V is called an orthogonal projection if it satisfies \langle P \mathbf x, \mathbf y \rangle = \langle \mathbf x, P \mathbf y \rangle for all \mathbf x, \mathbf y \in V. A projection on a Hilber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roly-poly Toy
A roly-poly toy, round-bottomed doll, tilting doll, tumbler, wobbly man, or wobble doll is a round-bottomed toy, usually egg-shaped, that tends to right itself when pushed at an angle, and does this in seeming contradiction to how it should fall. The toy is typically hollow with a weight inside the bottom hemisphere. The placement of this weight is such that the toy has a center of mass below the center of the hemisphere, so that any tilting raises the center of mass. When such a toy is pushed over, it wobbles for a few moments while it seeks the upright orientation, which has an equilibrium at the minimum gravitational potential energy. Different toy manufacturers and different cultures have produced different-looking roly-poly toys: the ''okiagari-koboshi'' and some types of Daruma doll of Japan, the ''nevаlyashka'' ("untopply") or ''van'ka-vstan'ka'' ("Ivan-get-up") of Russia, and Playskool's Weebles. Japanese ''okiagari'' means "to get up (''oki'') and arise (''agari'')"; the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gömböc
The Gömböc ( ) is the first known physical example of a class of convex three-dimensional homogeneous bodies, called mono-monostatic, which, when resting on a flat surface have just one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium. The existence of this class was conjectured by the Russian mathematician Vladimir Arnold in 1995 and proven in 2006 by the Hungarian scientists Gábor Domokos and Péter Várkonyi by constructing at first a mathematical example and subsequently a physical example. Mono-monostatic shapes exist in countless varieties, most of which are close to a sphere, with a stringent shape tolerance (about one part in a thousand). Gömböc is the first mono-monostatic shape which has been constructed physically. It has a sharpened top, as shown in the photo. Its shape helped to explain the body structure of some tortoises in relation to their ability to return to an equilibrium position after being placed upside down. Copies of the Gömböc have been donate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simplex
In geometry, a simplex (plural: simplexes or simplices) is a generalization of the notion of a triangle or tetrahedron to arbitrary dimensions. The simplex is so-named because it represents the simplest possible polytope in any given dimension. For example, * a 0-dimensional simplex is a point, * a 1-dimensional simplex is a line segment, * a 2-dimensional simplex is a triangle, * a 3-dimensional simplex is a tetrahedron, and * a 4-dimensional simplex is a 5-cell. Specifically, a ''k''-simplex is a ''k''-dimensional polytope which is the convex hull of its ''k'' + 1 vertices. More formally, suppose the ''k'' + 1 points u_0, \dots, u_k \in \mathbb^ are affinely independent, which means u_1 - u_0,\dots, u_k-u_0 are linearly independent. Then, the simplex determined by them is the set of points : C = \left\ This representation in terms of weighted vertices is known as the barycentric coordinate system. A regular simplex is a simplex that is also a regular polytope. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four-vertex Theorem
The four-vertex theorem of geometry states that the curvature along a simple, closed, smooth plane curve has at least four local extrema (specifically, at least two local maxima and at least two local minima). The name of the theorem derives from the convention of calling an extreme point of the curvature function a vertex. This theorem has many generalizations, including a version for space curves where a vertex is defined as a point of vanishing torsion. Definition and examples The curvature at any point of a smooth curve in the plane can be defined as the reciprocal of the radius of an osculating circle at that point, or as the norm of the second derivative of a parametric representation of the curve, parameterized consistently with the length along the curve. For the vertices of a curve to be well-defined, the curvature itself should vary continuously, as happens for curves of smoothness C^2. A vertex is then a local maximum or local minimum of curvature. If the curvature ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vladimir Arnold
Vladimir Igorevich Arnold (alternative spelling Arnol'd, russian: link=no, Влади́мир И́горевич Арно́льд, 12 June 1937 – 3 June 2010) was a Soviet and Russian mathematician. While he is best known for the Kolmogorov–Arnold–Moser theorem regarding the stability of integrable systems, he made important contributions in several areas including dynamical systems theory, algebra, catastrophe theory, topology, algebraic geometry, symplectic geometry, differential equations, classical mechanics, hydrodynamics and singularity theory, including posing the ADE classification problem, since his first main result—the solution of Hilbert's thirteenth problem in 1957 at the age of 19. He co-founded two new branches of mathematics— KAM theory, and topological Galois theory (this, with his student Askold Khovanskii). Arnold was also known as a popularizer of mathematics. Through his lectures, seminars, and as the author of several textbooks (such as the famous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convex Polygon
In geometry, a convex polygon is a polygon that is the boundary of a convex set. This means that the line segment between two points of the polygon is contained in the union of the interior and the boundary of the polygon. In particular, it is a simple polygon (not self-intersecting). Equivalently, a polygon is convex if every line that does not contain any edge intersects the polygon in at most two points. A strictly convex polygon is a convex polygon such that no line contains two of its edges. In a convex polygon, all interior angles are less than or equal to 180 degrees, while in a strictly convex polygon all interior angles are strictly less than 180 degrees. Properties The following properties of a simple polygon are all equivalent to convexity: *Every internal angle is strictly less than 180 degrees. *Every point on every line segment between two points inside or on the boundary of the polygon remains inside or on the boundary. *The polygon is entirely contained in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Center Of Mass
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may be applied to cause a linear acceleration without an angular acceleration. Calculations in mechanics are often simplified when formulated with respect to the center of mass. It is a hypothetical point where the entire mass of an object may be assumed to be concentrated to visualise its motion. In other words, the center of mass is the particle equivalent of a given object for application of Newton's laws of motion. In the case of a single rigid body, the center of mass is fixed in relation to the body, and if the body has uniform density, it will be located at the centroid. The center of mass may be located outside the physical body, as is sometimes the case for hollow or open-shaped objects, such as a horseshoe. In the case of a dist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convex Polytope
A convex polytope is a special case of a polytope, having the additional property that it is also a convex set contained in the n-dimensional Euclidean space \mathbb^n. Most texts. use the term "polytope" for a bounded convex polytope, and the word "polyhedron" for the more general, possibly unbounded object. Others''Mathematical Programming'', by Melvyn W. Jeter (1986) p. 68/ref> (including this article) allow polytopes to be unbounded. The terms "bounded/unbounded convex polytope" will be used below whenever the boundedness is critical to the discussed issue. Yet other texts identify a convex polytope with its boundary. Convex polytopes play an important role both in various branches of mathematics and in applied areas, most notably in linear programming. In the influential textbooks of Grünbaum and Ziegler on the subject, as well as in many other texts in discrete geometry, convex polytopes are often simply called "polytopes". Grünbaum points out that this is solely to avoi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centroid
In mathematics and physics, the centroid, also known as geometric center or center of figure, of a plane figure or solid figure is the arithmetic mean position of all the points in the surface of the figure. The same definition extends to any object in ''n''-dimensional Euclidean space. In geometry, one often assumes uniform mass density, in which case the ''barycenter'' or ''center of mass'' coincides with the centroid. Informally, it can be understood as the point at which a cutout of the shape (with uniformly distributed mass) could be perfectly balanced on the tip of a pin. In physics, if variations in gravity are considered, then a ''center of gravity'' can be defined as the weighted mean of all points weighted by their specific weight. In geography, the centroid of a radial projection of a region of the Earth's surface to sea level is the region's geographical center. History The term "centroid" is of recent coinage (1814). It is used as a substitute for the older te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Facet (mathematics)
In geometry, a facet is a feature of a polyhedron, polytope, or related geometric structure, generally of dimension one less than the structure itself. More specifically: * In three-dimensional geometry, a facet of a polyhedron is any polygon whose corners are vertices of the polyhedron, and is not a ''face''. To ''facet'' a polyhedron is to find and join such facets to form the faces of a new polyhedron; this is the reciprocal process to '' stellation'' and may also be applied to higher-dimensional polytopes. * In polyhedral combinatorics and in the general theory of polytopes, a facet (or hyperface) of a polytope of dimension ''n'' is a face that has dimension ''n'' − 1. Facets may also be called (''n'' − 1)-faces. In three-dimensional geometry, they are often called "faces" without qualification. * A facet of a simplicial complex is a maximal simplex, that is a simplex that is not a face of another simplex of the complex.. For (boundary complexes of) sim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
