Friday, November 9, 2007

Kaleidocycles

Kaleidocycle consists of at least 6 tetrahedrons joined into chain, which head connected to it's tail. In the case of at least 8 tetrahedra it has the interesting property that it can be turned through its center in a continuous motion.

In the book "M.C.Escher kaleidocycles" (1977) the mathematician Doris Schattschneider and the graphic designer Wallace Walker showed how to cover kaleidocycles continuously with repeating patterns designed by Dutch artist M.C. Escher. It should be noted that in the work of Escher himself kaleidocycles do not appear.

Below you can see two examples of kaleidocycles decorated with Escher's tessellations.

The most comprehensive site about kaleidocycles is http://www.kaleidocycles.de/

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