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The Number of Different Unfoldings of Polyhedra

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Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2013)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 8283))

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Abstract

Given a polyhedron, the number of its unfolding is obtained by the Matrix-Tree Theorem. For example, a cube has 384 ways of unfolding (i.e., cutting edges). By omitting mutually isomorphic unfoldings, we have 11 essentially different (i.e., nonisomorphic) unfoldings. In this paper, we address how to count the number of nonisomorphic unfoldings for any (i.e., including nonconvex) polyhedron. By applying this technique, we also give the numbers of nonisomorphic unfoldings of all regular-faced convex polyhedra (i.e., Platonic solids, Archimedean solids, Johnson-Zalgaller solids, Archimedean prisms, and antiprisms), Catalan solids, bipyramids and trapezohedra. For example, while a truncated icosahedron (a Buckminsterfullerene, or a soccer ball fullerene) has 375,291,866,372,898,816, 000 (approximately 3.75 ×1020) ways of unfolding, it has 3,127,432,220, 939,473,920 (approximately 3.13 ×1018) nonisomorphic unfoldings. A truncated icosidodecahedron has 21,789,262,703,685,125,511,464,767,107, 171,876,864,000 (approximately 2.18 ×1040) ways of unfolding, and has 181,577,189,197,376, 045,928,994,520,239,942,164,480 (approximately 1.82 ×1038) nonisomorphic unfoldings.

A preliminary version was presented at EuroCG2013.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Information Technology Center, Saitama University, Saitama, 338-8570, Japan

    Takashi Horiyama

  2. Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, Saitama, 338-8570, Japan

    Wataru Shoji

Authors
  1. Takashi Horiyama
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  2. Wataru Shoji
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, 100084, Hong Kong, China

    Leizhen Cai

  2. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, 100044, Hong Kong, China

    Siu-Wing Cheng

  3. Department of Computer Science, University of Hong Kong, Porfkulam, 100084, Hong Kong, China

    Tak-Wah Lam

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Horiyama, T., Shoji, W. (2013). The Number of Different Unfoldings of Polyhedra. In: Cai, L., Cheng, SW., Lam, TW. (eds) Algorithms and Computation. ISAAC 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8283. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-45030-3_58

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-45030-3_58

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-45029-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-45030-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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