Meanings
plural Catalan solids
- geometryThe dual polyhedron of any Archimedean solid.
3 more examples
1993, E. Heil, H. Martini, 1.11: Special convex bodies, P. M. Gruber, J. M. Wills (editors), Handbook of Convex Geometry, Volume A, page 352, These duals are also called Catalan solids, because Catalan was the first mathematician who described all of them, cf. Brückner (1900, p. 160). Some of the Catalan solids are much older, e.g., the rhombic dodecahedron, which plays a role in crystallography (cf. chapter 37), and the rhombic triacontahedron, which is of some importance also in the theory of quasicrystals (cf. chapter 3.5).
The set of thirteen such duals is historically designated the Catalan solids. Perhaps the most striking feature of a Catalan solid is that it is composed of just one kind of face that is not a regular polygon. A face of a Catalan solid can be simply constructed by the Dorman-Luke construction [3, 4, 6, 16], which is based on a dualization process known as polar reciprocation [6], with respect to the midsphere.
2003, Rona Gurkewitz, Bennett Arnstein, Multimodular Origami Polyhedra: Archimedeans, Buckyballs and Duality, page 4As the most complex of the Catalan solids, the disdyakis triacontahedron has 1680 geometrical elements surrounding its axis, according to Table 1, whilst 2400 elements surround it when its faces are divided into their sectors, i.e., 720 elements are added by this division. These numbers are ten times the corresponding numbers for the simplest Catalan solid.
2009, Stephen M. Phillips, The Mathematical Connection Between Religion and Science, page 270Synonyms: Archimedean dual
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe dual polyhedron of any Archimedean solid.
Origin
From Catalan (“a surname”) + solid, named for Belgian mathematician Eugène Charles Catalan.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan sòlid de Catalan, sòlid arquimedià dual
- sòlid de Catalandual polyhedron of an Archimedean solid
- sòlid arquimedià dualdual polyhedron of an Archimedean solid
Finnish Catalanin kappale, Catalanin monitahokas
- Catalanin kappaledual polyhedron of an Archimedean solid
- Catalanin monitahokasdual polyhedron of an Archimedean solid
- Arkhimedeen duaalidual polyhedron of an Archimedean solid
German catalanischer Körper, dual-archimedischer Körper
- catalanischer Körperdual polyhedron of an Archimedean solid
- dual-archimedischer Körperdual polyhedron of an Archimedean solid
Greek Καταλανικό στερεό
- Καταλανικό στερεό (Katalanikó stereó)dual polyhedron of an Archimedean solid
Italian solido di Catalan, solido archimedeo duale
- solido di Catalandual polyhedron of an Archimedean solid
- solido archimedeo dualedual polyhedron of an Archimedean solid
Polish wielościan Catalana
- wielościan Catalanadual polyhedron of an Archimedean solid
Cite this entry
Catalan solid. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Catalan%20solid
“Catalan solid.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Catalan%20solid. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Catalan solid,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Catalan%20solid.
Source: Catalan solid on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.