User talk:Pfafrich/test

I like the potential definitely, still mysterious how its done, where these are declared and how to use them freely. It is hard for me to even guess where to look to find the definitions.

Also you *might* want to consider Bowers' pet names for the template names, since they are intentionally short and unique and well used by polyhedronists working on the Uniform Polychora Project. Tom Ruen 23:00, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

Yep should have explained in detail. Each polyhedron is included with code like

{{Polyhedra DB|Polyhedra smallbox2|T}}

Where Polyhedra DB is a template containg all the data. Polyhedra smallbox2 is a template for displaying the data and T is the name of the polyhedra, in this case Tetrahedron.

Template:Polyhedra DB is like

{{{{{1}}}|{{{2}}}|

|T-name=Tetrahedron|T-image=tetrahedron.jpg|T-Wythoff=3|3 2|
|T-W=1|T-U=01|T-K=06|T-C=15|T-V=4|T-E=6|T-F=4|T-Fdetail=4{3}|T-chi=2|
|T-vfig=3.3.3|T-vfigimage=tetrahedron_vertfig.png|T-group=T<sub>d</sub>|

|O-name=Octahedron|O-image=octahedron.jpg|O-Wythoff=4|3 2|
...
}}

The first two parameters to this template just pass their arguments through, so this resolves to

{{Polyhedra smallbox2|T|T-name=Tetrahedron|....}}

and means that the Polyhedra smallbox2 template is called. Each variable in this template is of the form X-name where X is a short name for the polyhedron.

Template:Polyhedra smallbox2 is like

[[Image:{{{{{{1}}}-image}}}|100px]]<BR>
[[{{{{{{1}}}-name}}}]]<BR>
V {{{{{{1}}}-V}}},E {{{{{{1}}}-E}}},F {{{{{{1}}}-F}}}={{{{{{1}}}-Fdetail}}}
<br>''χ''={{{{{{1}}}-chi}}}, group={{{{{{1}}}-group}}}
<BR>{{{{{{1}}}-Wythoff}}} - {{{{{{1}}}-vfig}}}
<BR>W{{{{{{1}}}-W}}}, U{{{{{{1}}}-U}}}, K{{{{{{1}}}-K}}}, C{{{{{{1}}}-C}}}
<br>{{{{{{1}}}-altname|}}}

Occurences of {{{1}}} are replaced by the first parameter. In this case T so after substituting the variable it becomes

[[Image:{{{T-image}}}|100px]]<BR>
[[{{{T-name}}}]]<BR>
V {{{T-V}}},E {{{T-E}}},F {{{T-F}}}={{{T-Fdetail}}}
<br>''χ''={{{T-chi}}}, group={{{T-group}}}
<BR>{{{{T-Wythoff}}} - {{{T-vfig}}}
<BR>W{{{{T-W}}}, U{{{T-U}}}, K{{{T-K}}}, C{{{T-C}}}
<br>{{{T-altname|}}}

Finally {{{T-image}}} and {{{T-name}}} just select the other parameters from the Polyhedra DB so this now just like an infobox template.

database names

The nameing system I've used follows the names used for all the images but i've shortend them so

• T - tetrahedron or Tetra
• O - octahedron or Octa
• C - Cube
• D - Dodecahedron or Dodeca
• I - Icosahedron or Icosi
• r - rhombi
• s - stelated
• g - great
• t - truncated
• l - small (lesser) used to avoid naming conflict
• d - ditrigonal
• h - hemi
• u - uniform
• n - stub (n is used to avoid name conflict)

So gtCO becomes great truncated CubeOctahedron.

I'm kind of fond of these names as they save a lot of writing, especially on paper. I don't know Bowers' pet names but I will investigate. --Salix alba (talk) 02:13, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

• I'm leaning to using U1-U75 for database names, if we must keep them short, although then what for prisms/antiprisms/tilings, etc? Tom Ruen 02:08, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Template:Infobox Polyhedron with vertfig

Okay, I understand a little better seeing Template:Polyhedra DB. How about trying a test interacting with Template:Infobox Polyhedron with vertfig. Sorry I dare not try yet myself.

I think a big step left is to define a set of similar templates like this for varied types of polyhedra which will have slightly different useful information, even if we may want all under the same DB construction.

Tom Ruen 21:29, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Yep should not be a problem. Its easy enough to use the same scheme with a different database of info and a different display method. I'll get on with vertex figure soon. I'm also interested in trying those with the same spherical triangles. --Salix alba (talk) 00:02, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

If you're interested in spherical triangles, and have Windows, check out a cool program for reflection symmetry at least.

http://geometrygames.org/KaleidoTile/index.html

It allows you to select a symmetry type and it draws a fundamental triangle and you can pick a point inside and it divides the triangle into 3 regions, colored differently, and it generates all the uniform polyehedral, including tilings and (a few) hyperbolic tilings. I mean there's 7 main "control points" for regulars/semiregulars, and any smoothly between as well.

It is also interesting to see some tilings come up in different symmetry modes, showing for example an octahedron has both Oh and Th symmetry.

Well a good exploratory tool at least.

Oh, apparently called Schwarz triangle for spheres.

• http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SchwarzTriangle.html
• http://web.ukonline.co.uk/polyhedra/uniform/tocid.htm
  • A Schwarz triangle is a spherical, Euclidean, or hyperbolic triangle that covers S^2, E^2, or H^2 a finite number of times when repeatedly reflected in its sides. (Finite?!?!)

Tom Ruen 02:01, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Cool, KaleidoTile is nice. A plan in waiting is to draw a spherical tesalation for the cubeoctahedral family illustrating the how the different polyhedra arise. --Salix alba (talk) 03:23, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Multiple list of uniform polyhedra versions

I've been getting requests to allow versions of the list of uniform polyhedra to exist with rows sorted by different columns. (Standard approach of clickable headers which change versions should work.)

Your database approach will be great value to doing this well since values won't need duplicating. Previously I actually was contemplating writing a wikitable parser and resorting and outputing varied ordered version.

Also notice - I recently added a column for Bowers' names in the above list article.

I also just noticed the Wenninger list article has a symmetry group column which were absent from list of uniform polyhedra.

Ideally your database should include both of these columns.

Tom Ruen 02:02, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

My favourite uniform polyhedron is the stellated truncated hexahedron.

By the way, why are there no transparent images for nonconvex polyhedra aside from the four Kepler-Poinsot Solids? Professor M. Fiendish, Esq. 11:50, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

That's true. The transparent images come from a POV-Ray software (http://www.povray.org/) which I don't use. The colored cylinder/ball model views are from Stella (software). Tom Ruen (talk) 17:23, 23 August 2009 (UTC)