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 small complex icosidodecahedron is a degenerate

uniform star polyhedron In geometry, a uniform star polyhedron is a self-intersecting uniform polyhedron. They are also sometimes called nonconvex polyhedra to imply self-intersecting. Each polyhedron can contain either star polygon faces, star polygon vertex figures, ...

. Its edges are doubled, making it degenerate. The star has 32 faces (20

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 and 12

pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

s), 60 (doubled) edges and 12 vertices and 4 sharing faces. The faces in it are considered as two overlapping edges as topological polyhedron. A small complex icosidodecahedron can be constructed from a number of different

vertex figure In geometry, a vertex figure, broadly speaking, is the figure exposed when a corner of a general -polytope is sliced off. Definitions Take some corner or Vertex (geometry), vertex of a polyhedron. Mark a point somewhere along each connected ed ...

s. A very similar figure emerges as a geometrical truncation of the

great stellated dodecahedron In geometry, the great stellated dodecahedron is a Kepler–Poinsot polyhedron, with Schläfli symbol . It is one of four nonconvex regular polyhedra. It is composed of 12 intersecting pentagrammic faces, with three pentagrams meeting at eac ...

, where the pentagram faces become doubly-wound pentagons ( --> ), making the internal pentagonal planes, and the three meeting at each vertex become triangles, making the external triangular planes.

As a compound

The small complex icosidodecahedron can be seen as a

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...

of the

icosahedron In geometry, an icosahedron ( or ) is a polyhedron with 20 faces. The name comes . The plural can be either "icosahedra" () or "icosahedrons". There are infinitely many non- similar shapes of icosahedra, some of them being more symmetrical tha ...

and the

great dodecahedron In geometry, the great dodecahedron is one of four Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra. It is composed of 12 pentagonal faces (six pairs of parallel pentagons), intersecting each other making a pentagrammic path, with five pentagons meeting at each vert ...

where all vertices are precise and edges coincide. The small complex icosidodecahedron resembles an icosahedron, because the great dodecahedron is completely contained inside the icosahedron. Its two-dimensional analogue would be the compound of a regular

, , representing the icosahedron as the ''n''-dimensional

pentagonal polytope In geometry, a pentagonal polytope is a regular polytope in ''n'' dimensions constructed from the H''n'' Coxeter group. The family was named by H. S. M. Coxeter, because the two-dimensional pentagonal polytope is a pentagon. It can be named by it ...

, and regular

pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle around ...

, , as the ''n''-dimensional star. These shapes would share vertices, similarly to how its 3D equivalent shares edges.

References

* (Table 6, degenerate cases) * * {{KlitzingPolytopes, polyhedra-neu.htm, 3D uniform polyhedra, x3/2o5o5*a - cid Polyhedra Polyhedral compounds

As a compound

See also

References