A hemi-octahedron is an
abstract regular polyhedron
In mathematics, an abstract polytope is an algebraic partially ordered set which captures the dyadic property of a traditional polytope without specifying purely geometric properties such as points and lines.
A geometric polytope is said to be ...
, containing half the faces of a regular
octahedron
In geometry, an octahedron (plural: octahedra, octahedrons) is a polyhedron with eight faces. The term is most commonly used to refer to the regular octahedron, a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet at ea ...
.
It has 4 triangular faces, 6 edges, and 3 vertices. Its
dual polyhedron
In geometry, every polyhedron is associated with a second dual structure, where the vertices of one correspond to the faces of the other, and the edges between pairs of vertices of one correspond to the edges between pairs of faces of the other. ...
is the
hemicube.
It can be realized as a
projective polyhedron
In geometry, a (globally) projective polyhedron is a tessellation of the real projective plane. These are projective analogs of spherical polyhedra – tessellations of the sphere – and toroidal polyhedra – tessellations of the toroids.
Projec ...
(a
tessellation
A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety o ...
of the
real projective plane
In mathematics, the real projective plane is an example of a compact non-orientable two-dimensional manifold; in other words, a one-sided surface. It cannot be embedded in standard three-dimensional space without intersecting itself. It has b ...
by 4 triangles), which can be visualized by constructing the projective plane as a hemisphere where opposite points along the boundary are connected and dividing the hemisphere into four equal parts. It can be seen as a
square pyramid without its base.
It can be represented symmetrically as a hexagonal or square
Schlegel diagram
In geometry, a Schlegel diagram is a projection of a polytope from \mathbb^d into \mathbb^ through a point just outside one of its facets. The resulting entity is a polytopal subdivision of the facet in \mathbb^ that, together with the orig ...
:
:
It has an unexpected property that there are two distinct edges between every pair of vertices – any two vertices define a
digon
In geometry, a digon is a polygon with two sides (edges) and two vertices. Its construction is degenerate in a Euclidean plane because either the two sides would coincide or one or both would have to be curved; however, it can be easily visu ...
.
See also
*
Hemi-dodecahedron
A hemi-dodecahedron is an abstract regular polyhedron, containing half the faces of a regular dodecahedron. It can be realized as a projective polyhedron (a tessellation of the real projective plane by 6 pentagons), which can be visualized by const ...
*
Hemi-icosahedron
A hemi-icosahedron is an abstract regular polyhedron, containing half the faces of a regular icosahedron. It can be realized as a projective polyhedron (a tessellation of the real projective plane by 10 triangles), which can be visualized by const ...
References
* {{citation , last1 = McMullen , first1 = Peter , author1-link = Peter McMullen , first2 = Egon , last2 = Schulte , chapter = 6C. Projective Regular Polytopes , title = Abstract Regular Polytopes , edition = 1st , publisher = Cambridge University Press , isbn = 0-521-81496-0 , date=December 2002 , pages
162–165
External links
The hemioctahedron
Projective polyhedra