mscroggs.co.uk
mscroggs.co.uk

subscribe

Blog

 2015-03-24 
This is the fourth post in a series of posts about tube map folding.
A while ago, I made this (a stellated rhombicuboctahedron):
Here are some hastily typed instructions for Matt Parker, who is making one at this month's Maths Jam. Other people are welcome to follow these instructions too.

You will need

Making a module

First, take a tube map and fold the cover over. This will ensure that your shape will have tube (map and not index) on the outside and you will have pages to tuck your tabs between later.
Now fold one corner diagonally across to another corner. It does not matter which diagonal you chose for the first piece but after this all following pieces must be the same as the first.
Now fold the overlapping bit back over the top.
Turn it over and fold this overlap over too.
You have made one module.
You will need 48 of these and some glue.

Putting it together

By slotting three or four of these modules together, you can make a pyramid with a triangle or square as its base.
A stellated rhombicuboctahedron is a rhombicuboctahedron with a pyramid, or stellation on each face. In other words, you now need to build a rhombicuboctahedron with the bases of pyramids like these. A rhombicuboctahedron looks like this:
en.wiki User Cyp, CC BY-SA 3.0
More usefully, its net looks like this:
To build a stellated rhombicuboctahedron, make this net, but with each shape as the base of a pyramid. This is what it will look like 6/48 tube maps in:
If you make on of these, please tweet me a photo so I can see it!
Edit: Proof that these instructions can be followed:
Previous post in series
This is the fourth post in a series of posts about tube map folding.
Next post in series
×2      ×2      ×2      ×2      ×2
(Click on one of these icons to react to this blog post)

You might also enjoy...

Comments

Comments in green were written by me. Comments in blue were not written by me.
I wish you'd make the final stellation of the rhombicuboctahedron! And show us! I know the shapes of the faces but have been stuck two years on the assembly!
Roberts, David
×2   ×2   ×2   ×2   ×2     Reply
 Add a Comment 


I will only use your email address to reply to your comment (if a reply is needed).

Allowed HTML tags: <br> <a> <small> <b> <i> <s> <sup> <sub> <u> <spoiler> <ul> <ol> <li> <logo>
To prove you are not a spam bot, please type "theorem" in the box below (case sensitive):

Archive

Show me a random blog post
 2026 

May 2026

World Cup stickers 2026

Apr 2026

A new puzzle every day
Mixing Wordle with other games

Feb 2026

Christmas (2025) is over
 2025 

Dec 2025

Christmas card 2025

Nov 2025

Christmas (2025) is coming!

Sep 2025

The partridge puzzle

Aug 2025

TMiP 2025 puzzle hunt

Jun 2025

A nonogram alphabet

Mar 2025

How to write a crossnumber

Jan 2025

Christmas (2024) is over
Friendly squares
 2024 

Dec 2024

A regular expression Christmas puzzle
Christmas card 2024

Nov 2024

Christmas (2024) is coming!

Feb 2024

Zines, pt. 2

Jan 2024

Christmas (2023) is over
 2023 
▼ show ▼
 2022 
▼ show ▼
 2021 
▼ show ▼
 2020 
▼ show ▼
 2019 
▼ show ▼
 2018 
▼ show ▼
 2017 
▼ show ▼
 2016 
▼ show ▼
 2015 
▼ show ▼
 2014 
▼ show ▼
 2013 
▼ show ▼
 2012 
▼ show ▼

Tags

arithmetic inverse matrices dates royal institution convergence puzzles video games curvature geogebra gerry anderson news determinants oeis rugby python fractals map projections matt parker ucl dragon curves numerical analysis chebyshev draughts sound stirling numbers preconditioning frobel latex pokémon logs matrix multiplication books reuleaux polygons ternary warwick standard deviation turtles chess fonts geometry platonic solids pi pizza cutting arrangement puzzles plastic ratio anscombe's quartet kenilworth estimation pokémon wordle braiding mean go misleading statistics palindromes chalkdust magazine graphs light mathslogicbot edinburgh javascript simultaneous equations mathsjam raspberry pi programming football crossnumber bluesky error bars hyperbolic surfaces realhats wordle youtube hexapawn wool pythagoras machine learning asteroids golden ratio folding paper data visualisation crossnumbers kings errors zines datasaurus dozen nonograms captain scarlet golden spiral recursion game of life triangles guest posts christmas card thirteen dataset nine men's morris hats big internet math-off crosswords manchester weak imposition advent calendar game show probability binary trigonometry talking maths in public numbers finite group folding tube maps probability finite element method sport the aperiodical runge's phenomenon sobolev spaces speed a gamut of games bubble bobble hannah fry bempp stickers bots matrix of minors squares tennis london friendly squares national lottery exponential growth people maths gather town martin gardner london underground phd signorini conditions logic php gaussian elimination flexagons databet coventry manchester science festival sorting matrices logo radio 4 partridge puzzle cambridge crochet alphabets inline code electromagnetic field matrix of cofactors wave scattering regular expressions rust bodmas fence posts games menace data graph theory pi approximation day royal baby computational complexity 24 hour maths quadrilaterals coins propositional calculus rhombicuboctahedron boundary element methods tetris live stream statistics approximation newcastle polynomials mathsteroids weather station countdown cross stitch reddit accuracy correlation dinosaurs christmas final fantasy noughts and crosses craft interpolation pac-man european cup harriss spiral tmip pascal's triangle world cup

Archive

Show me a random blog post
▼ show ▼
© Matthew Scroggs 2012–2026