Solid Dissections

Author : Gavin Theobald

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Cube - Triangular prism

Triangular prism — Cube (10 pieces)


Cube - Pentagonal prism

Pentagonal prism — Cube (10 pieces)


Cube - Hexagonal prism

Hexagonal prism — Cube (8 pieces)

Starting with the prism, this dissection can be performed with just five straight cuts.

The dissection is translational.
Cube - Heptagonal prism

Heptagonal prism — Cube (11 pieces)


Cube - Octagonal prism

Octagonal prism — Cube (10 pieces)

Unfortunately the shaded piece is very thin in the middle, so there is room for improvement here.
Truncated octahedron - Cube

Truncated octahedron — Cube (11 pieces)

Starting with the truncated octahedron, this dissection can be performed with just four straight cuts.

The dissection is translational.
Rhombic dodecahedron - Cube

Rhombic dodecahedron — Cube (11 pieces)


Stellated rhombic dodecahedron - Cube

Stellated rhombic dodecahedron — Cube (12 pieces)


Truncated octahedron - Rhombic dodecahedron

Truncated octahedron — Rhombic dodecahedron (24 pieces)


Stellated rhombic dodecahedron - Truncated octahedron

Stellated rhombic dodecahedron — Truncated octahedron (6 pieces)

The dissection is translational and hingeable.
Stellated rhombic dodecahedron - Rhombic dodecahedron

Stellated rhombic dodecahedron — Rhombic dodecahedron (24 pieces)


Cube - 2 Tetrahedra + Octahedron

Cube — 2 Tetrahedra + Octahedron (15 pieces)

Starting with the cube, this dissection can be performed with just five straight cuts.

The dissection is translational.

Rhombic triacontahedron — Cube (29 pieces)

Rhombic triacontahedron - Cube

We start by dividing the rhombic triacontahedron into 5 pieces. If it has a volume of 1 then the five pieces have volumes of 0.4, 0.2, 0.2, 0.1 and 0.1.

Rhombic triacontahedron - Cube

The four small pieces with volumes of 0.2, 0.2, 0.1 and 0.1 are rearranged into a single block.

Rhombic triacontahedron - Cube

The first cut adds 4 pieces. These pieces are rearranged. The second cut adds a further 5 pieces. Again rearrange the pieces into a clean parallel sided block. A final two parallel cuts are made adding a single piece and 5 more pieces. The pieces are now rearranged to give a final block of dimensions 0.6×1×1. The pieces required are 4+4+5+(1+5) for a total of 19 pieces.

Rhombic triacontahedron - Cube

Here are these 19 pieces shown separately and grouped for the original 4 pieces.

Rhombic triacontahedron - Cube

The central block must now be dissected. We start by making 3 parallel cuts making a total of 4 pieces. These are rearranged. Now another cut is made adding 3 more pieces. Again rearrange the pieces making a clean parallel sided block. A final cut is made adding a further 3 pieces. The pieces are now rearranged to give a final block of dimensions 0.4×1×1. The pieces required are 4+3+3 for a total of 10 pieces.

The two blocks of 0.4×1×1 and 0.6×1×1 can now be combined to make a cube with a total of 29 pieces

Rhombic triacontahedron - Cube

Here are these 10 pieces shown separately.

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