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For polyhedra with regular faces, a vertex figure can be represented in vertex configuration notation, by listing the faces in sequence around the vertex. For example 3.4.4.4 is a vertex with one triangle and three squares, and it defines the uniform rhombicuboctahedron.
where V is the number of vertices, E is the number of edges, and F is the number of faces. This equation is known as Euler's polyhedron formula. Thus the number of vertices is 2 more than the excess of the number of edges over the number of faces. For example, since a cube has 12 edges and 6 faces, the formula implies that it has eight vertices.
The relations can be made apparent by examining the vertex figures obtained by listing the faces adjacent to each vertex (remember that for uniform polyhedra all vertices are the same, that is vertex-transitive). For example, the cube has vertex figure 4.4.4, which is to say, three adjacent square faces. The possible faces are 3 - equilateral ...
The high degree of symmetry of the Platonic solids can be interpreted in a number of ways. Most importantly, the vertices of each solid are all equivalent under the action of the symmetry group, as are the edges and faces. One says the action of the symmetry group is transitive on the vertices, edges, and faces.
A vertex configuration can also be represented as a polygonal vertex figure showing the faces around the vertex. This vertex figure has a 3-dimensional structure since the faces are not in the same plane for polyhedra, but for vertex-uniform polyhedra all the neighboring vertices are in the same plane and so this plane projection can be used to visually represent the vertex configuration.
For example, in a polyhedron (3-dimensional polytope), a face is a facet, an edge is a ridge, and a vertex is a peak. Vertex figure: not itself an element of a polytope, but a diagram showing how the elements meet.
A regular polyhedron is identified by its Schläfli symbol of the form {n, m}, where n is the number of sides of each face and m the number of faces meeting at each vertex. There are 5 finite convex regular polyhedra (the Platonic solids ), and four regular star polyhedra (the Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra ), making nine regular polyhedra in all.
These segments are called its edges or sides, and the points where two of the edges meet are the polygon's vertices (singular: vertex) or corners. The word polygon comes from Late Latin polygōnum (a noun), from Greek πολύγωνον ( polygōnon/polugōnon ), noun use of neuter of πολύγωνος ( polygōnos/polugōnos , the masculine ...