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5-simplex

Regular 5-polytope

5-simplex
Hexateron (hix)
Type uniform 5-polytope
Schläfli symbol {34}
Coxeter diagram
4-faces66 {3,3,3}
Cells1515 {3,3}
Faces2020 {3}
Edges 15
Vertices 6
Vertex figure
5-cell
Coxeter group A5, [34], order 720
Dual self-dual
Base point (0,0,0,0,0,1)
Circumradius 0.645497
Properties convex, isogonal regular, self-dual

In five-dimensional geometry, a 5-simplex is a self-dual regular 5-polytope. It has six vertices, 15 edges, 20 triangle faces, 15 tetrahedral cells, and 6 5-cell facets. It has a dihedral angle of cos−1(1/5), or approximately 78.46°.

The 5-simplex is a solution to the problem: Make 20 equilateral triangles using 15 matchsticks, where each side of every triangle is exactly one matchstick.

01Alternate names

It can also be called a hexateron, or hexa-5-tope, as a 6-facetted polytope in 5-dimensions. The name hexateron is derived from hexa- for having six facets and teron (with ter- being a corruption of tetra-) for having four-dimensional facets.

By Jonathan Bowers, a hexateron is given the acronym hix.

02As a configuration

This configuration matrix represents the 5-simplex. The rows and columns correspond to vertices, edges, faces, cells and 4-faces. The diagonal numbers say how many of each element occur in the whole 5-simplex. The nondiagonal numbers say how many of the column's element occur in or at the row's element. This self-dual simplex's matrix is identical to its 180 degree rotation.

{\begin{bmatrix}{\begin{matrix}6&5&10&10&5\\2&15&4&6&4\\3&3&20&3&3\\4&6&4&15&2\\5&10&10&5&6\end{matrix}}\end{bmatrix}}

03Regular hexateron cartesian coordinates

The hexateron can be constructed from a 5-cell by adding a 6th vertex such that it is equidistant from all the other vertices of the 5-cell.

The Cartesian coordinates for the vertices of an origin-centered regular hexateron having edge length 2 are:

{\begin{aligned}&\left({\tfrac {1}{\sqrt {15}}},\ {\tfrac {1}{\sqrt {10}}},\ {\tfrac {1}{\sqrt {6}}},\ {\tfrac {1}{\sqrt {3}}},\ \pm 1\right)\\[5pt]&\left({\tfrac {1}{\sqrt {15}}},\ {\tfrac {1}{\sqrt {10}}},\ {\tfrac {1}{\sqrt {6}}},\ -{\tfrac {2}{\sqrt {3}}},\ 0\right)\\[5pt]&\left({\tfrac {1}{\sqrt {15}}},\ {\tfrac {1}{\sqrt {10}}},\ -{\tfrac {\sqrt {3}}{\sqrt {2}}},\ 0,\ 0\right)\\[5pt]&\left({\tfrac {1}{\sqrt {15}}},\ -{\tfrac {2{\sqrt {2}}}{\sqrt {5}}},\ 0,\ 0,\ 0\right)\\[5pt]&\left(-{\tfrac {\sqrt {5}}{\sqrt {3}}},\ 0,\ 0,\ 0,\ 0\right)\end{aligned}}

The vertices of the 5-simplex can be more simply positioned on a hyperplane in 6-space as permutations of (0,0,0,0,0,1) or (0,1,1,1,1,1). These constructions can be seen as facets of the 6-orthoplex or rectified 6-cube respectively.

04Projected images


Stereographic projection 4D to 3D of Schlegel diagram 5D to 4D of hexateron.

05Lower symmetry forms

A lower symmetry form is a 5-cell pyramid {3,3,3}∨( ), with [3,3,3] symmetry order 120, constructed as a 5-cell base in a 4-space hyperplane, and an apex point above the hyperplane. The five sides of the pyramid are made of 5-cell cells. These are seen as vertex figures of truncated regular 6-polytopes, like a truncated 6-cube.

Another form is {3,3}∨{ }, with [3,3,2,1] symmetry order 48, the joining of an orthogonal digon and a tetrahedron, orthogonally offset, with all pairs of vertices connected between. Another form is {3}∨{3}, with [3,2,3,1] symmetry order 36, and extended symmetry [[3,2,3],1], order 72. It represents joining of 2 orthogonal triangles, orthogonally offset, with all pairs of vertices connected between.

The form { }∨{ }∨{ } has symmetry [2,2,1,1], order 8, extended by permuting 3 segments as [3[2,2],1] or [4,3,1,1], order 48.

These are seen in the vertex figures of bitruncated and tritruncated regular 6-polytopes, like a bitruncated 6-cube and a tritruncated 6-simplex. The edge labels here represent the types of face along that direction, and thus represent different edge lengths.

The vertex figure of the omnitruncated 5-simplex honeycomb, , is a 5-simplex with a petrie polygon cycle of 5 long edges. Its symmetry is isomorphic to dihedral group Dih6 or simple rotation group [6,2]+, order 12.

Vertex figures for uniform 6-polytopes
Join{3,3,3}∨( ){3,3}∨{ }{3}∨{3}{ }∨{ }∨{ }
Symmetry[3,3,3,1]
Order 120
[3,3,2,1]
Order 48
[[3,2,3],1]
Order 72
[3[2,2],1,1]=[4,3,1,1]
Order 48
~[6] or ~[6,2]+
Order 12
Diagram
Polytope truncated 6-simplex
bitruncated 6-simplex
tritruncated 6-simplex
3-3-3 prism
Omnitruncated 5-simplex honeycomb

06Compound

The compound of two 5-simplexes in dual configurations can be seen in this A6 Coxeter plane projection, with a red and blue 5-simplex vertices and edges. This compound has [[3,3,3,3]] symmetry, order 1440. The intersection of these two 5-simplexes is a uniform birectified 5-simplex. = .

Watch videos about 5-simplexExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article 5-simplex, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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