# Spherical polyhedron

In geometry, a spherical polyhedron or spherical tiling is a tiling of the sphere in which the surface is divided or partitioned by great arcs into bounded regions called spherical polygons. A polyhedron whose vertices are equidistant from its center can be conveniently studied by projecting its edges onto the sphere to obtain a corresponding spherical polyhedron.
The most familiar spherical polyhedron is the soccer ball, thought of as a spherical truncated icosahedron. The next most popular spherical polyhedron is the beach ball, thought of as a hosohedron.
Some "improper" polyhedra, such as hosohedra and their duals, dihedra, exist as spherical polyhedra, but their flat-faced analogs are degenerate. The example hexagonal beach ball, {2, 6}, is a hosohedron, and {6, 2} is its dual dihedron.

## History

During the 10th Century, the Islamic scholar Abū al-Wafā' Būzjānī (Abu'l Wafa) studied spherical polyhedra as part of a work on the geometry needed by craftspeople and architects.
The work of Buckminster Fuller on geodesic domes in the mid 20th century triggered a boom in the study of spherical polyhedra. At roughly the same time, Coxeter used them to enumerate all but one of the uniform polyhedra, through the construction of kaleidoscopes (Wythoff construction).

## Examples

All regular polyhedra, semiregular polyhedra, and their duals can be projected onto the sphere as tilings:
| Schläfli symbol | {p,q} | t{p,q} | r{p,q} | t{q,p} | {q,p} | rr{p,q} | tr{p,q} | sr{p,q} |
| Vertex config. | p$^q$ | q.2p.2p | p.q.p.q | p.2q.2q | q$^p$ | q.4.p.4 | 4.2q.2p | 3.3.q.3.p |
| Tetrahedral symmetry (3 3 2) | 3$^3$ | 3.6.6 | 3.3.3.3 | 3.6.6 | 3$^3$ | 3.4.3.4 | 4.6.6 | 3.3.3.3.3 |
| Tetrahedral symmetry (3 3 2) | 3$^3$ | V3.6.6 | V3.3.3.3 | V3.6.6 | 3$^3$ | V3.4.3.4 | V4.6.6 | V3.3.3.3.3 |
| Octahedral symmetry (4 3 2) | 4$^3$ | 3.8.8 | 3.4.3.4 | 4.6.6 | 3$^4$ | 3.4.4.4 | 4.6.8 | 3.3.3.3.4 |
| Octahedral symmetry (4 3 2) | 4$^3$ | V3.8.8 | V3.4.3.4 | V4.6.6 | 3$^4$ | V3.4.4.4 | V4.6.8 | V3.3.3.3.4 |
| Icosahedral symmetry (5 3 2) | 5$^3$ | 3.10.10 | 3.5.3.5 | 5.6.6 | 3$^5$ | 3.4.5.4 | 4.6.10 | 3.3.3.3.5 |
| Icosahedral symmetry (5 3 2) | 5$^3$ | V3.10.10 | V3.5.3.5 | V5.6.6 | 3$^5$ | V3.4.5.4 | V4.6.10 | V3.3.3.3.5 |
| Dihedral example (p=6) (2 2 6) | 6$^2$ | 2.12.12 | 2.6.2.6 | 6.4.4 | 2$^6$ | 2.4.6.4 | 4.4.12 | 3.3.3.6 |
| n | ... |
| n-Prism (2 2 p) | ... |
| n-Bipyramid (2 2 p) | ... |
| n-Antiprism | ... |
| n-Trapezohedron | ... |

## Improper cases

Spherical tilings allow cases that polyhedra do not, namely hosohedra: figures as {2,n}, and dihedra: figures as {n,2}. Generally, regular hosohedra and regular dihedra are used.
Family of regular hosohedra · *n22 symmetry mutations of regular hosohedral tilings: nn :
| Space | Spherical | Spherical | Spherical | Spherical | Spherical | | Euclidean |
| Tiling name | Henagonal hosohedron | Digonal hosohedron | Trigonal hosohedron | Square hosohedron | Pentagonal hosohedron | ... | Apeirogonal hosohedron |
| Tiling image | | | | | | ... | |
| Schläfli symbol | {2,1} | {2,2} | {2,3} | {2,4} | {2,5} | ... | {2,∞} |
| Coxeter diagram | | | | | | ... | |
| Faces and edges | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ... | ∞ |
| Vertices | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ... | 2 |
| Vertex config. | 2 | 2.2 | 2$^3$ | 2$^4$ | 2$^5$ | ... | 2$^∞$ |
Family of regular dihedra · *n22 symmetry mutations of regular dihedral tilings: nn :
| Space | Spherical | Spherical | Spherical | Spherical | Spherical | | Euclidean |
| Tiling name | Monogonal dihedron | Digonal dihedron | Trigonal dihedron | Square dihedron | Pentagonal dihedron | ... | Apeirogonal dihedron |
| Tiling image | | | | | | ... | |
| Schläfli symbol | {1,2} | {2,2} | {3,2} | {4,2} | {5,2} | ... | {∞,2} |
| Coxeter diagram | | | | | | ... | |
| Faces | 2 {1} | 2 {2} | 2 {3} | 2 {4} | 2 {5} | ... | 2 {∞} |
| Edges and vertices | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ... | ∞ |
| Vertex config. | 1.1 | 2.2 | 3.3 | 4.4 | 5.5 | ... | ∞.∞ |

## Relation to tilings of the projective plane

Spherical polyhedra having at least one inversive symmetry are related to projective polyhedra (tessellations of the real projective plane) – just as the sphere has a 2-to-1 covering map of the projective plane, projective polyhedra correspond under 2-fold cover to spherical polyhedra that are symmetric under reflection through the origin.
The best-known examples of projective polyhedra are the regular projective polyhedra, the quotients of the centrally symmetric Platonic solids, as well as two infinite classes of even dihedra and hosohedra:
* Hemi-cube, {4,3}/2
* Hemi-octahedron, {3,4}/2
* Hemi-dodecahedron, {5,3}/2
* Hemi-icosahedron, {3,5}/2
* Hemi-dihedron, {2p,2}/2, p>=1
* Hemi-hosohedron, {2,2p}/2, p>=1