
In
geometry
Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...
, the truncated cube, or truncated hexahedron, is an
Archimedean solid
The Archimedean solids are a set of thirteen convex polyhedra whose faces are regular polygon and are vertex-transitive, although they aren't face-transitive. The solids were named after Archimedes, although he did not claim credit for them. They ...
. It has 14 regular faces (6
octagon
In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon.
A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...
al and 8
triangular
A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimensional ...
), 36 edges, and 24 vertices.
If the truncated cube has unit edge length, its dual
triakis octahedron
In geometry, a triakis octahedron (or trigonal trisoctahedron or kisoctahedronConway, Symmetries of things, p. 284) is an Archimedean solid, Archimedean dual solid, or a Catalan solid. Its dual is the truncated cube.
It can be seen as an octahedr ...
has edges of lengths and ,
where ''δ
S'' is the silver ratio, +1.
Area and volume
The area ''A'' and the
volume
Volume is a measure of regions in three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch) ...
''V'' of a truncated cube of edge length ''a'' are:
:
Orthogonal projections
The ''truncated cube'' has five special
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 we ...
s, centered, on a vertex, on two types of edges, and two types of faces: triangles, and octagons. The last two correspond to the B
2 and A
2 Coxeter planes.
Spherical tiling
The truncated cube can also be represented as a
spherical tiling
In geometry, a spherical polyhedron or spherical tiling is a tessellation, tiling of the sphere in which the surface is divided or partitioned by great arcs into bounded regions called ''spherical polygons''. A polyhedron whose vertices are equi ...
, and projected onto the plane via a
stereographic projection
In mathematics, a stereographic projection is a perspective transform, perspective projection of the sphere, through a specific point (geometry), point on the sphere (the ''pole'' or ''center of projection''), onto a plane (geometry), plane (th ...
. This projection is
conformal, preserving angles but not areas or lengths. Straight lines on the sphere are projected as circular arcs on the plane.
Cartesian coordinates
Cartesian coordinates
In geometry, a Cartesian coordinate system (, ) in a plane is a coordinate system that specifies each point uniquely by a pair of real numbers called ''coordinates'', which are the signed distances to the point from two fixed perpendicular o ...
for the vertices of a
truncated hexahedron
A hexahedron (: hexahedra or hexahedrons) or sexahedron (: sexahedra or sexahedrons) is any polyhedron with six faces. A cube, for example, is a regular hexahedron with all its faces square, and three squares around each vertex.
There are seven ...
centered at the origin with edge length 2 are all the permutations of
:(±, ±1, ±1),
where δ
S=+1.
If we let a parameter ''ξ''= , in the case of a Regular Truncated Cube, then the parameter ''ξ'' can be varied between ±1. A value of 1 produces a
cube
A cube or regular hexahedron is a three-dimensional space, three-dimensional solid object in geometry, which is bounded by six congruent square (geometry), square faces, a type of polyhedron. It has twelve congruent edges and eight vertices. It i ...
, 0 produces a
cuboctahedron
A cuboctahedron is a polyhedron with 8 triangular faces and 6 square faces. A cuboctahedron has 12 identical vertex (geometry), vertices, with 2 triangles and 2 squares meeting at each, and 24 identical edge (geometry), edges, each separating a tr ...
, and negative values produces self-intersecting
octagrammic faces.
:

If the self-intersected portions of the octagrams are removed, leaving squares, and truncating the triangles into hexagons,
truncated octahedra are produced, and the sequence ends with the central squares being reduced to a point, and creating an
octahedron
In geometry, an octahedron (: octahedra or octahedrons) is any polyhedron with eight faces. One special case is the regular octahedron, a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet at each vertex. Many types of i ...
.
Dissection

The truncated cube can be dissected into a central
cube
A cube or regular hexahedron is a three-dimensional space, three-dimensional solid object in geometry, which is bounded by six congruent square (geometry), square faces, a type of polyhedron. It has twelve congruent edges and eight vertices. It i ...
, with six
square cupolae around each of the cube's faces, and 8 regular tetrahedra in the corners. This dissection can also be seen within the
runcic cubic honeycomb, with
cube
A cube or regular hexahedron is a three-dimensional space, three-dimensional solid object in geometry, which is bounded by six congruent square (geometry), square faces, a type of polyhedron. It has twelve congruent edges and eight vertices. It i ...
,
tetrahedron
In geometry, a tetrahedron (: tetrahedra or tetrahedrons), also known as a triangular pyramid, is a polyhedron composed of four triangular Face (geometry), faces, six straight Edge (geometry), edges, and four vertex (geometry), vertices. The tet ...
, and
rhombicuboctahedron
In geometry, the rhombicuboctahedron is an Archimedean solid with 26 faces, consisting of 8 equilateral triangles and 18 squares. It was named by Johannes Kepler in his 1618 Harmonices Mundi, being short for ''truncated cuboctahedral rhombus'', w ...
cells.
This dissection can be used to create a
Stewart toroid with all regular faces by removing two square cupolae and the central cube. This excavated cube has 16
triangle
A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...
s, 12
square
In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...
s, and 4
octagon
In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon.
A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...
s.
:
Vertex arrangement
It shares the
vertex arrangement with three
nonconvex uniform polyhedra:
Related polyhedra
The truncated cube is related to other polyhedra and tilings in symmetry.
The truncated cube is one of a family of uniform polyhedra related to the cube and regular octahedron.
Symmetry mutations
This polyhedron is topologically related as a part of sequence of uniform
truncated polyhedra with
vertex configuration
In geometry, a vertex configuration is a shorthand notation for representing a polyhedron or Tessellation, tiling as the sequence of Face (geometry), faces around a Vertex (geometry), vertex. It has variously been called a vertex description, vert ...
s (3.2''n''.2''n''), and
'n'',3Coxeter group
In mathematics, a Coxeter group, named after H. S. M. Coxeter, is an abstract group that admits a formal description in terms of reflections (or kaleidoscopic mirrors). Indeed, the finite Coxeter groups are precisely the finite Euclidean ref ...
symmetry, and a series of polyhedra and tilings ''n''.8.8.
Alternated truncation
Truncating alternating vertices of the cube gives the
chamfered tetrahedron, i.e. the edge truncation of the tetrahedron.
The
truncated triangular trapezohedron is another polyhedron which can be formed from cube edge truncation.
Related polytopes
The ''
truncated cube
A cube or regular hexahedron is a three-dimensional space, three-dimensional solid object in geometry, which is bounded by six congruent square (geometry), square faces, a type of polyhedron. It has twelve congruent edges and eight vertices. It i ...
'', is second in a sequence of truncated
hypercube
In geometry, a hypercube is an ''n''-dimensional analogue of a square ( ) and a cube ( ); the special case for is known as a ''tesseract''. It is a closed, compact, convex figure whose 1- skeleton consists of groups of opposite parallel l ...
s:
Truncated cubical graph
In the
mathematical
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
field of
graph theory
In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of ''graph (discrete mathematics), graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of ''Vertex (graph ...
, a truncated cubical graph is the
graph of vertices and edges of the ''truncated cube'', one of the
Archimedean solid
The Archimedean solids are a set of thirteen convex polyhedra whose faces are regular polygon and are vertex-transitive, although they aren't face-transitive. The solids were named after Archimedes, although he did not claim credit for them. They ...
s. It has 24
vertices and 36 edges, and is a
cubic
Cubic may refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Cube (algebra), "cubic" measurement
* Cube, a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex
** Cubic crystal system, a crystal system w ...
Archimedean graph.
See also
*
Spinning truncated cube
*
Cube-connected cycles, a family of graphs that includes the
skeleton
A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...
of the truncated cube
*
Chamfered cube
In geometry, a chamfer or edge-truncation is a topological operator that modifies one polyhedron into another. It separates the Face (geometry), faces by reducing them, and adds a new face between each two adjacent faces (moving the vertices ...
, obtained by replacing the edges of a cube with non-uniform hexagons
References
* (Section 3-9)
* Cromwell, P. ''Polyhedra'', CUP hbk (1997), pbk. (1999). Ch.2 p. 79-86 ''Archimedean solids''
External links
*
**
*
Editable printable net of a truncated cube with interactive 3D viewThe Uniform Polyhedrawww.georgehart.com: The Encyclopedia of Polyhedra
**
VRMLbr>
modelTry: "tC"
{{Polyhedron navigator
Uniform polyhedra
Archimedean solids
Truncated tilings