GeometricGamesABriefHistoryoftheNotsoRegularSolids.doc

Kim H. Veltman Geometric Games A Brief History of the Not so Regular Solids I. COSMOLOGY, THEOLOGY AND MATHEMATICS 1. Ancient Roots 2. Mediaeval Developments 3. Regiomontanus 4. Piero della Francesca 5. Luca Pacioli 6. Leonardo da Vinci 7. Nürnberg Goldsmiths 8. Italian Popularizers 9. French Mathematics 10. Jesuits 1. Ancient Roots In 1936 French archaeologists found a series of mathematical tablets at Susa, some 200 miles east of Babylon. These Babylonian tablets, dating c. 1800-1600 B.C. contain among the earliest known computations for regular polygons, triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon and heptagon.1 The earliest known semi-regular solids also came from Babylon and appear to have been used in connection with weights and measures2 (fig. 1.2-4). Their use remained practical. Neither the Babylonians nor the Egyptians developed mathematical or scientific theories about such solids. In nature approximations of the cube and octahedron are found in pyrite crystals (FeS2) which occur in iron-ore deposits. In Switzerland and Northern Italy approximations of the icosahedron and dodecahedron are also found in such crystals in the valleys of the alps, particularly Traversella and Brosso, leading to Piedmont.3 Aside from the island of Elba this is the only region in the world where such crystals occur (cf. fig 1.1). It is significant, therefore, that interest in the twelve sided dodecahedron and twenty sided icosahedron developed in this part of Northern Italy during the iron age (c. 900-500 B.C.). At least 28 dodecahedra from this period have been recorded in museums.4 They were used as weights. Their sides were covered with number symbolism which may have come from Babylon, possibly in Egypt and/or the Phoenicians.5 The Etruscans and Celts also endowed these solids with religious symbolism which Pythagoras of Samos adopted when he came to Italy sometime between 540 and 520 B.C.6 All too little is known of his precise contribution. One tradition cla