Like the Platonic Solids, we require that all vertices be identical and that
the solid be convex, but we will now allow more than one kind of regular
polygon be used for the faces. There are 13 solids that meet these requirements,
and are known as the Archimedean Solids (they are also called the
semiregular solids).
| Since all of the vertices are identical to one another, these solids can be fully described by indicating which regular polygons surround each vertex and the order that they occur in. For example, the Truncated Cube (see the image at the right) has one triangle and two octagons around each vertex, so it is notated as (3,8,8). |  |
Seven of the Archimedean solids are derived from the Platonic solids by the process of truncation, literally cutting off the corners. Two of these are of special note, and so are presented separately. The remaining 6 Archimedean solids are shown together on another page.
Note that all of the Archimedean solids are roughly ball-shaped.
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