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Platonic solid

English edit

 
A tetrahedron, one of the Platonic solids
 
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Etymology edit

From Platonic + solid, in reference to the Greek philosopher Plato, who in his dialogue Timaeus theorised about a correspondence between these solids and the classical physical elements.

Noun edit

Platonic solid (plural Platonic solids)

  1. (geometry) Any of five convex polyhedra with congruent regular polygonal faces, which have a high degree of symmetry and have been studied since antiquity.
    • 1961, J. S. Griffith, The Theory of Transition-Metal Ions‎[1], page 41:
      As the names suggest, the groups and their existence are connected to the five Platonic solids. They are in fact the rotation groups of the Platonic solids.
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 202:
      The boat which the gods tell Utnapishtim to build is no ordinary boat but a perfect cube with seven levels; the ark resembles more a Platonic solid from the Timaeus than a seaworthy craft.
    • 1993, Aharon Kantorovich, Scientific Discovery: Logic and Tinkering‎[2], page 160:
      The erroneous number of planets, six, gave him[Johannes Kepler] the clue for his model of five Platonic solids (the five regular convex polyhedra) on which he erected the universe.
    • 2015, Alexander A. Stepanov, Daniel E. Rose, From Mathematics to Generic Programming, page 44:
      In the 13th and final book, he[Euclid] shows how to construct the five Platonic solids, and proves that they are the only regular polyhedra (bodies whose faces are congruent, regular polygons) that exist.

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