Puzzling the 120-cell

Saul Schleimer; Henry Segerman

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arXiv · 1310.3549

Puzzling the 120-cell

Saul Schleimer·Henry Segerman

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Abstract

We introduce Quintessence: a family of burr puzzles based on the geometry and combinatorics of the 120-cell. We discuss the regular polytopes, their symmetries, the dodecahedron as an important special case, the three-sphere, and the quaternions. We then construct the 120-cell, giving an illustrated survey of its geometry and combinatorics. This done, we describe the pieces out of which Quintessence is made. The design of our puzzle pieces uses a drawing technique of Leonardo da Vinci; the paper ends with a catalogue of new puzzles.

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Saul Schleimer, Henry Segerman. 2013-10-14. Puzzling the 120-cell. https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.3549

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