Which Solids Can We Make printable sheet
Which Solids Can We Make printable sheet - extension
This problem follows on from Semi-regular Tessellations.
Here are pictures of the five Platonic Solids - solids made from just one type of polygon, with the same number of polygons meeting at each vertex:
tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron
Can you convince yourself that there are no more?
The angle deficit at a vertex of a polyhedron is a measure of how far short each angle sum is from $360^{\circ}$.
For example, in a dodecahedron, three pentagons with interior angles of $108^{\circ}$ meet at each vertex, so the angle sum is $324^{\circ}$ and the angle deficit is $36^{\circ}$:
Archimedean Solids have two properties:
Here is a picture of an Archimedean Solid with 24 vertices. Its vertex form {3, 3, 3, 3, 4} is defined by the polygons that meet at each vertex: triangle, triangle, triangle, triangle, square.
Calculate the total angle deficit for this solid. Does it match your observations about the Platonic solids?
Try to suggest some other vertex forms which might give rise to Archimedean solids, assuming all solids share the property you have discovered. If you have access to construction sets such as Polydron, you could test out your ideas.
Below are some vertex forms you might like to try: some of them give rise to solids and some of them don't. Can you decide which will work before testing them out?