The Archimedean Solids
Apart from the infinite sets of regular-based prisms and anti-prisms, there are only thirteen convex semi-regular polyhedra. These are known as the Archimedean Solids. The first of these has the symmetry of the regular tetrahedron.
The next six are related to both the cube and octahedron.
- Truncated Octahedron
- Truncated Cube
- Cuboctahedron
- Great Rhombicuboctahedron
- Small Rhombicuboctahedron
- Snub Cube
The final six are related in a similar way to the icosahedron and dodecahedron.
- Truncated Icosahedron
- Truncated Dodecahedron
- Icosidodecahedron
- Great Rhombicosidodecahedron
- Small Rhombicosidodecahedron
- Snub Dodecahedron
Unlike the other 11, two of these solids, the Snub Cube and Snub Dodecahedron do not possess the full symmetry groups of the platonic solids to which they are related; they lack any lines of bilateral symmetry. Each exists in two distict forms which are mirror images of each other. The two forms are called enantiomorphs and are related to each other in the same way as left-handed and right-handed gloves.
See Also: Archimedean Duals; Stellated Archimedeans.