NAMING POLYHEDRA

ACTIVITY SHEET

The exercises contained in this activity require the KaleidoTile program developed by Jeff Weeks. If you do not yet have a copy of this software, you may wish to download KaleidoTile .

For more information regarding this activity and its objectives, see the accompanying Teacher's Guide.


1. Get models of the five Platonic solids to study. Each Greek prefix in the table below represents a number. Name each Platonic solid shown in the lower table by:

2. Look at the sketches of polyhedra that you made from the Intro. to KaleidoTile lesson. Check the names you gave to the Platonic solids above with the names given to your sketches from KaleidoTile. Are any of the names different?

If so, explain why.


3. Load the KaleidoTile program on your computer. You will study one polyhedra family, called the (2,3,4)-family. To do so, choose the settings shown here:
Under 
'Symmetry Grou
p' window, choose '(2,3,4)' button Under 'What 
to Draw
' window, choose 'faces', 'edges', and 'flat' button.
(2,3,4)-Family Diagram
(2,3,4) Family Diagram


Under 
'Symmetry Gro
up', choose '(2,3,5)' button. 4. It's time to check what you learned by studying a different family of polyhedra, the (2,3,5)-family. Change the Symmetry Group by pressing the (2,3,5) button.
(2,3,5)-Family Diagram
(2,3,5) Family Diagram


5. Let's see if you know what is really going on.

(2,3,3)-Family Diagram
(2,3,3) Family Diagram

(2,3,3)-Family Diagram
(2,3,3) Family Diagram


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