Archimedean

Solids
By: Nicole Strauss, Carrissa Texley,
and Marlene Stockton
 What are Archimedean Solids?
• Archimedean solids belong to the semiregular
polyhedra family.
• There are 13 Archimedean solids.
• They are like platonic solids but differ in the
sense that they have two or more regular
polygon faces.
• 7 of the 13 Archimedean solids are derived
from platonic solids.
 History
• Archimedean solids are named after the Greek
mathematician, Archimedes who discovered
and discussed them in a book that was lost.
• The solids were “rediscovered” during the
Renaissance period by Johannes Kepler.
 Truncation
• According to Dictionary.com truncation means
“to shorten by cutting off a part; cut short”
• By truncating certain platonic solids you
create 7 Archimedean solids (which is what
we will be doing today).
• Different Archimedean solids can be made but
truncating the same platonic solid at different
depths.
 Euler’s Formula
• Do you think Euler’s Formula holds true for
Archimedean solids?
Unearthing Archimedes' Lost Solids
• 5th Grade (but can be adapted for middle school
as well).

• The topic of our activity is finding Archimedean

solids. The purpose is to

• prove that seven of the Archimedean solids come

from truncating Platonic solids and show the
relationship between these two classes of
polyhedra.
• The standard we are addressing in this activity
is a NCTM Geometry standard for 3-5 grades,
which states that students should be able to;
“Analyze characteristics and properties of two-
and three- dimensional geometric shapes and
develop mathematical arguments about
geometric relationships and should—
Investigate, describe, and reason about the
results of subdividing, combining, and
transforming shapes.”
• We think that this standard applies to our
activity because we are truncating, which is a
way of transforming, a three-dimensional
shape in order to create a new three-
dimensional shape.
• It is also relevant to our activity because
students will be analyzing the shapes they
start with versus the ones they end with,
therefore leading them to look closely at the
various characteristics and properties that
make up both figures.
• In a normal classroom this activity would
probably take 30-45 minutes, in our class we
foresee it taking about 15 minutes; since our
class is familiar with the material and are
skilled in building solids from nets at this
point.
• The class should be split into six fairly equal
groups. Each group will need 3 nets for the
Platonic solids (should give them 3 different
Archimedean solids when they are finished), 3
nets for the finished
• Archimedean solids, scissors, and tape.
• If this activity was implemented in a classroom we would
suggest that teachers do the following:

• Break the lesson into 3 parts

– Discuss Platonic solids
– Build the Platonic solids
– Truncate Platonic solids into Archimedean solids
This way the students are not overwhelmed with too much
information, and can focus on each section at one time.

• If you go younger than 5th grade students might need

assistance in cutting out the nets and putting them
together due to dexterity issues.

• A teacher might want to guide their students a little more

on where they should truncate in order to get the correct
Archimedean solids.
• To conclude the activity each group can
present a different Archimedean solid to the
rest of the class, and explain from which
Platonic solid they got it. They can also go into
detail about what regular polygons make up
the faces, and the number of edges and
vertices their Archimedean solid contains.