The condition of being composed of two different types of polygons distinguishes Archimedean solids from
Platonic solids.
 |
| Above
An Archimedean solid composed of equilateral triangles and squares. |
Net of the solid on the left. |
Archimedean solids are also called
semi-regular convex polyhedra.
There are 13 Archimedean solids:
| Name
|
Number of faces
|
Characteristics of the faces
|
| Truncated tetrahedron
|
8
|
4 equilateral triangles and 4 regular hexagons
|
| Cuboctahedron
|
14
|
6 squares and 8 equilateral triangles
|
| Truncated cube
|
14
|
6 regular octagons and 8 equilateral triangles
|
| Truncated octahedron
|
14
|
6 squares and 8 regular hexagons
|
| Truncated dodecahedron
|
32
|
20 equilateral triangles and 12 regular decagons
|
| Truncated icosahedron
|
32
|
12 regular pentagons and 20 regular hexagons
|
| Snub cube
|
38
|
32 equilateral triangles and 6 squares
|
| Icosidodecahedron
|
32
|
20 equilateral triangles and 12 regular pentagons
|
| Snub dodecahedron
|
92
|
80 equilateral triangles and 12 regular pentagons
|
| Small rhombicuboctahedron
|
26
|
8 equilateral triangles and 18 squares
|
| Truncated cuboctahedron
|
26
|
12 squares, 8 regular hexagons and 6 regular octagons
|
| Small Rhombicosidodecahedron
|
62
|
20 equilateral triangles, 30 squares and 12 regular pentagons
|
| Truncated icosidodecahedron
|
62
|
30 squares, 20 regular hexagons and 12 regular decagons
|
Historical note
The Archimedean solids were named after the Greek mathematician Archimedes, who described them in one of his works (now lost). Through their study of pure forms, artists and mathematicians of the Renaissance rediscovered the Archimedean solids. This study was completed around 1619 by Johannes Kepler.
