[math-fun] Re: unistable object
Science News' Math Trek has an interesting article this week, by Julie J. Rehmeyer. It's about a unistable object discovered by Gabor Domokos and Peter Varkonyi.
There is a prize offered for a polyhedral solution, but it's $10K/face-count. The authors don't expect to pay much. There's no discussion of the obvious first move, simply taking their rounded solution and using sandpaper to make a lot of tiny flat faces.
I must be missing something. Why doesn't the 19-face polyhedron shown in http://mathworld.wolfram.com/UnistablePolyhedron.html qualify? Jim Propp
What's the back side of this object look like? I count 17 visible faces. Rich -----Original Message----- From: math-fun-bounces+rschroe=sandia.gov@mailman.xmission.com on behalf of James Propp Sent: Tue 4/10/2007 7:44 PM To: math-fun@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [math-fun] Re: unistable object
Science News' Math Trek has an interesting article this week, by Julie J. Rehmeyer. It's about a unistable object discovered by Gabor Domokos and Peter Varkonyi.
There is a prize offered for a polyhedral solution, but it's $10K/face-count. The authors don't expect to pay much. There's no discussion of the obvious first move, simply taking their rounded solution and using sandpaper to make a lot of tiny flat faces. I must be missing something. Why doesn't the 19-face polyhedron shown in http://mathworld.wolfram.com/UnistablePolyhedron.html qualify? Jim Propp
Does 10K/face count mean that I can collect $10,000 if I come up with a polyhedron that meets the criteria and has only one face? I'll get right on it! Steve Gray -----Original Message----- From: math-fun-bounces+stevebg=adelphia.net@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:math-fun-bounces+stevebg=adelphia.net@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Schroeppel, Richard Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2007 7:18 PM To: math-fun Cc: rcs@cs.arizona.edu Subject: RE: [math-fun] Re: unistable object What's the back side of this object look like? I count 17 visible faces. Rich -----Original Message----- From: math-fun-bounces+rschroe=sandia.gov@mailman.xmission.com on behalf of James Propp Sent: Tue 4/10/2007 7:44 PM To: math-fun@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [math-fun] Re: unistable object
Science News' Math Trek has an interesting article this week, by Julie J. Rehmeyer. It's about a unistable object discovered by Gabor Domokos and Peter Varkonyi.
There is a prize offered for a polyhedral solution, but it's $10K/face-count. The authors don't expect to pay much. There's no discussion of the obvious first move, simply taking their rounded solution and using sandpaper to make a lot of tiny flat faces. I must be missing something. Why doesn't the 19-face polyhedron shown in http://mathworld.wolfram.com/UnistablePolyhedron.html qualify? Jim Propp
When I go to the Mathworld link, I can drag and rotate the object in 3D. I think this is because I have a free java applet, LiveGraphics3D loaded. (I don't believe you need Mathematica to do this, only LiveGraphics3D.) You can get LiveGraphics3D from http://www.vis.uni-stuttgart.de/~kraus/LiveGraphics3D/ bob --- Schroeppel, Richard wrote:
What's the back side of this object look like? I count 17 visible faces.
Rich
participants (4)
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James Propp -
Robert Baillie -
Schroeppel, Richard -
Steve Gray