In Euclidean geometry, a Platonic solid is a regular, convex polyhedron. The faces are congruent, regular polygons, with the same number of faces meeting at each vertex. There are exactly five solids which meet those criteria; each is named according to its number of faces.
| Tetrahedron (four faces) |
Cube or hexahedron (six faces) |
Octahedron (eight faces) |
Dodecahedron (twelve faces) |
Icosahedron (twenty faces) |
The aesthetic beauty and symmetry of the Platonic solids have made them a favorite subject of geometers for thousands of years. They are named for the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who theorized that the classical elements were constructed from the regular solids.
Read more about Platonic Solid: History, Combinatorial Properties, Classification, In Nature and Technology
Famous quotes containing the words platonic and/or solid:
“So the Platonic Year
Whirls out new right and wrong,
Whirls in the old instead;
All men are dancers and their tread
Goes to the barbarous clangour of a gong.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The solid and well-defined fir-tops, like sharp and regular spearheads, black against the sky, gave a peculiar, dark, and sombre look to the forest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)