Four-dimensional polytopes: Alicia Boole Stott's algorithm
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: Four-dimensional polytopes: Alicia Boole Stott's algorithm
zbMATH Open document ID: 1211.52011
author: Jon Gonzalez-Sanchez
author: Irene Polo-Blanco
published in: The Mathematical Intelligencer
publication date: 2010-11-29T00:00:00Z
review text: Between 1850 and 1852, the Swiss mathematician L. Schläfli developed a theory of geometry in \(n\) dimensions, introduced the concept of four-dimensional polytopes, and proved that there are exactly six regular polytopes in four dimensions but only three in dimensions higher than four. Unfortunately, his work was not accepted for publication, and only fragments were published later. Between 1880 and 1900 the six regular polytopes were independently rediscovered by, among many others, Stringham in 1880, Gosset in 1900 and Boole Stott in 1900. The work of the first two is well known today, but that of Boole Stott, an amateur mathematician, has remained almost unnoticed. In this note the authors present Boole Stott's original algorithmic approach, together with her original drawings and models. The authors show her surprising and original ideas.
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 52B11
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 52B12
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A55
zbMATH DE Number: 5820347
zbMATH Keywords: four-dimensional regular polytopes
reviewed by: Stanislav Jendroľ
MaRDI profile type: Publication
full work available at URL: s00283-009-9131-1
OpenAlex ID: W1985056307
cites work: Alicia Boole Stott, a geometer in higher dimension
DOI: 10.1007/S00283-009-9131-1
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 5820347