Elements
The elements of a polytope are its vertices, edges, faces, cells and so on. The terminology for these is not entirely consistent across different authors. To give just a few examples: Some authors use face to refer to an (n−1)-dimensional element while others use face to denote a 2-face specifically, and others use j-face or k-face to indicate an element of j or k dimensions. Some sources use edge to refer to a ridge, while H. S. M. Coxeter uses cell to denote an (n−1)-dimensional element.
An n-dimensional polytope is bounded by a number of (n−1)-dimensional facets. These facets are themselves polytopes, whose facets are (n−2)-dimensional ridges of the original polytope. Every ridge arises as the intersection of two facets (but the intersection of two facets need not be a ridge). Ridges are once again polytopes whose facets give rise to (n−3)-dimensional boundaries of the original polytope, and so on. These bounding sub-polytopes may be referred to as faces, or specifically j-dimensional faces or j-faces. A 0-dimensional face is called a vertex, and consists of a single point. A 1-dimensional face is called an edge, and consists of a line segment. A 2-dimensional face consists of a polygon, and a 3-dimensional face, sometimes called a cell, consists of a polyhedron.
Dimension of element |
Element name (in an n-polytope) |
---|---|
−1 | Null polytope (necessary in abstract theory) |
0 | Vertex |
1 | Edge |
2 | Face |
3 | Cell |
4 | Hypercell |
j | j-face – element of rank j = −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, ..., n |
n − 3 | Peak – (n−3)-face |
n − 2 | Ridge or subfacet – (n−2)-face |
n − 1 | Facet – (n−1)-face |
n | Body – n-face |
Read more about this topic: Polytope
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