POLYHEDRON

The word polyhedron has slightly different meanings

in geometry and algebraic geometry. In geometry, a polyhedron is simply a threedimensional solid which consists of a collection of polygons, usually joined at their edges. The word derives from the Greek poly (many) plus the Indo-

European hedron (seat). A polyhedron is the three-dimensional version of the more general polytope (in the geometric sense), which can be defined in arbitrary dimension. The plural of polyhedron is "polyhedra" or sometimes "polyhedrons". The term "polyhedron" is used somewhat differently in algebraic topology, where it is defined as a space that can be built from such "building blocks" as line segments, triangles, tetrahedra, and their higher dimensional analogs by "gluing them together" along their faces (Munkres 1993). More specifically, it can be defined as the underlying space of a simplicial complex (with the additional constraint sometimes imposed that the complex be finite. In the usual definition, a polyhedron can be viewed as an intersection of half-spaces, while a polytopeis

a bounded polyhedron. A polyhedron is

convex if the line segment joining any two points of the polyhedron is contained in the polyhedron's interior vertex-uniform if all vertices are the same, in the sense that for any two vertices there exists a symmetry of the polyhedron mapping the first onto the second edge-uniform if all edges are the same, in the sense that for any two edges there exists a symmetry of the polyhedron mapping the first onto the second face-uniform if all faces are the same, in the sense that for any two faces there exists a symmetry of the polyhedron mapping the first onto the second regular if it is vertex-uniform, edge-uniform and face-uniform

There are five regular convex polyhedral. These have been known since ancient times, and are called the Platonic solids: Name Tetrahedron Cube or hexahedron Octahedron Dodecahedron Icosahedron Vertices 4 8 6 20 12 Edges 6 12 12 30 30 Faces 4 6 8 12 20 Edges/Face 3 4 3 5 3 Edges/Vertex 3 3 4 3 5

STELLATED DODECAHEDRON
HISTORY A small stellated dodecahedron appears in a marble tarsia on the floor of St. Mark's Basilica, Venice, Italy. It dates from the 1400s and is sometimes attributed to Paolo Uccello. In his Perspectiva corporum regularium (Perspectives of the regular solids), a book of woodcuts published in the 1500s, Wenzel Jamnitzer depicts the great dodecahedron. It is clear from the general arrangement of the book that he regards only the five Platonic solids as regular, and does not understand the regular nature of his great dodecahedron. He also depicts a figure often mistaken for the great stellated dodecahedron, though the triangular surfaces of the arms are not quite coplanar, so it actually has 60 triangular faces. The Kepler solids were discovered by Johannes Kepler in 1619. He obtained them by stellating the regular convex dodecahedron, for the first time treating it as a surface rather than a solid. He noticed that by extending the edges or faces of the convex dodecahedron until they met again, he could obtain star pentagons. Further, he recognized that these star pentagons are also regular. In this way he found two stellated dodecahedra, the small and the great. Each has the central convex region of each face "hidden" within the interior, with only the triangular arms visible. Kepler's

final step was to recognize that these polyhedra fit the definition of regular solids, even though they were not convex, as the traditional Platonic solids were. In 1809, Louis Poinsot rediscovered these two figures. He also considered star vertices as well as star faces, and so discovered two more regular stars, the great icosahedron and great dodecahedron. Some people call these two the Poinsot solids. Poinsot did not know if he had discovered all the regular star polyhedra. Three years later, Augustin Cauchy was to prove the list complete, and almost half a century later Bertrand provided a more elegant proof by facetting the Platonic solids. The Kepler-Poinsot solids were given their English names in the following year, 1859, by Arthur Cayley. A hundred years later, John Conway developed a systematic terminology for stellations in up to four dimensions. Within this scheme, he suggested slightly modified names for two of the regular star polyhedra. So far, Conway's names have seen some use but have not really caught on.

The

three

stellations

of

the

dodecahedron

are

non-convex regular

polyhedra and are shown above. The first is the small stellated dodecahedron. The small stellated dodecahedron is formed by placing 12 congruent pyramids on the faces of the dodecahedron. Next is the great dodecahedron.. This is obtained by continuing the star planes of the small stellated dodecahedron outward until they meet to form the next set of pentagons. These continuations form 30 wedges on the small stellated dodecahedron. If we extend these pentagons, we get the stellation on the right,

the great stellated dodecahedron. These extensions shape 20 spikes onto the great dodecahedron to form the great stellated dodecahedron. Notice that the great stellated dodecahedron has the same number of vertices and vertex arrangement as the dodecahedron. INSTRUCTION HOW TO DO THE DODECAHEDRON

Step 1 Prepare 30 pieces of square paper variety of colours with scale 10cmX10cm.

Step 2 Fold the paper into half. Follow the picture.

Step 3 Fold again the paper until we can see 4 little square at the paper.

Step 4 Take 2 angle of the paper and fold it to the centre.

Step 5 Turn the paper upside down and fold the side of the paper to the centre.

Step 6 Turn back the paper and fold the each end of the paper near to the centre.

Step 7 Fold the more of the paper to the back of the paper until the paper become like diamond shape.

Step 8 Open back the fold and it will become like this.

Step 9 Turn the paper and fold it into half and it will become like w shape.

Step 10 Open back the paper and one is ready. You must do all this step again until you have all thirty. After you have all thirty of the folded paper, time to unite them. Step 11 Unite three of our paper until it become like a pyramid with it base is open.

Step 12 Continue to connect each of the paper one by one until they have five vertices each side.

Step 13 Connect all 30 pieces of the folded paper. Make sure all of the 30 pieces of the folded paper is used. Finally, our stellated dodecahedron is finished.

Uses of polyhedral in teaching

As teaching aid materials, there are many uses of polyhedral in teaching. We can use it as a dice or as a decoration. Teachers must use the teaching aid materials wisely to attract student interest. We are using our polyhedral as a dice. For teaching Bahasa Malaysia subject, we write at each of the vertices a word. Then a student throw the polyhedral dice and when it stop, the student must create a sentence according what word that come out from the polyhedral dice. For teaching mathematic subject, we still use our polyhedral as a dice and we wrote a mathematic equation at each of the vertices. When the dice is thrown by the student, they must solve the equations that come out from the dice. If they solve it correctly, they will be given a present like candy but if they solved it wrong, they must throw the dice again.