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Cube 4-Compound


Cube4Compounds

There are a number of attractive polyhedron compounds involving four cubes, several of which are illustrated above. The first (left figures), also known as Bakos' compound, has the symmetry of the cube and arises by joining four cubes such that each C_3 axis falls along the C_3 axis of one of the other cubes (Bakos 1959; Holden 1991, p. 35). In particular, let the first cube c_1 consists of a cube in standard position be rotated by pi/3 radians around the (1,1,1)-axis, then the other three cubes are obtained by rotating c_1 around the (0,0,1)-axis (z-axis) by pi/2, -pi/2, and pi radians, respectively.

A second attractive 4-cube compound (second from the left) can be obtained by taking the dual of the octahedron 4-compound obtained from the quartic vertices of the deltoidal icositetrahedron. A number of other 4-compounds (right three figures) can be obtained as the polyhedron duals of octahedron 4-compounds.

These compounds are implemented in the Wolfram Language as PolyhedronData[{"CubeFourCompound", n}] for n=1, ..., 5.

Cube4CompoundsAndDuals

These cube 4-compounds are illustrated above together with their octahedron 4-compound duals and common midspheres.

Cube4CompoundsIntersectionsAndConvexHulls

For the first compound, the common solid is a small triakis octahedron and the convex hull is a chamfered cube. For the second, the common solid is a chamfered cube and the convex hull has the connectivity of a hexagon-augmented truncated octahedron. The common solid of the third compound is an elongated 8-dipyramid. The common solid of the fourth compound is a 12-dipyramid and the convex hull is an elongated 12-dipyramid. For the fifth compound, the interior and convex hull are (different) 16-prisms.

Cube4-CompoundNet

The net of the first cube 4-compound (Bakos' compound) is illustrated above for cubes with unit edges lengths. The indicated lengths are given by

s_1=1/(22)sqrt(17)
(1)
s_2=1/4
(2)
s_3=3/(77)sqrt(65)
(3)
s_4=3/7
(4)
s_5=1/2
(5)
s_6=1/4sqrt(5).
(6)

The surface area of the hull of the first compound is

 S=(687)/(77) approx 8.92.
(7)

See also

Cube, Octahedron 4-Compound, Polyhedron Compound

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References

Bakos, T. "Octahedra Inscribed in a Cube." Math. Gaz. 43, 17-20, 1959.Hart, G. "The Compound of Four Cubes." http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/vrml/cubes_S4_D3.wrl.Holden, A. Shapes, Space, and Symmetry. New York: Dover, 1991.Verheyen, H. F. Symmetry Orbits. Boston, MA: Birkhäuser, 2007.

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Cube 4-Compound." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Cube4-Compound.html

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