tetrahedrons from the arrangement of the constructive circles, which link edges of equal length.
My ideas about asymmetric tetrahedra have very little novelty. The related topic of Integer Triangles
has been studied for millennia. They could easily be constructed from lengths of string with
equidistant knots, i.e. Stone Age technology.
Application of such shapes is unlimited. The proportions of the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 tetrahedron would
make a tent for camping, with the largest triangle being the groundsheet and the smallest triangle as
the door flap. It could be framed from six 2 foot poles and five 3 foot poles. The outer fly-sheet
could be made as another tetrahedron by adding one foot to each edge length.
I wondered if a tetrahedron could be constructed from edges with lengths that are sequential prime
numbers. The image above shows a paper template that folds into a tetrahedron that has relative
edge lengths which are prime numbers: 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 and 17. The smallest face (filled black) is a
triangle of sides 3, 5, and 7. When folded, this triangle meets the dark blue and light grey triangles
to form a tetrahedron. The light grey and dark blue triangles fold, to meet along the edge of length
13. (The dark blue triangle is the upper one in the diagram.) Before cutting out the template, draw
tabs around the perimeter edges, for gluing the paper shape together.
This is the smallest asymmetric tetrahedron from the sequence of prime numbers, and is only
possible in one configuration, plus its mirror image. If the smallest triangle is the base, the apex
would not be above the base. If the centre of gravity is not above the base, it would fall over. If
using prime lengthed edges, the centimetre unit is convenient for templates that will fit on a page.
You could also make this tetrahedron from drinking straws with prime numbered length, cutting the
shortest straw to 3/17th of full length.
Not all sequences of prime numbers can be used to define a tetrahedron. The three primes 2,3,5
cannot form the sides of a triangle, so there is no tetrahedron with edge lengths 2,3,5,7,11,13. There
is no triangle with side lengths that are numbers from the Fibonacci sequence. Another sequence
that works is Numbers n such that 2n-1 is prime, https://oeis.org/A006254. I didn't discover any
magic properties arising from using prime numbered edge lengths. You could use any system of
your own to select edge lengths, and they don't have to be integers.
The templates are free to download from the geometry resource site I2Geo.net.
http://i2geo.net/xwiki/bin/view/Search/Simple?terms=Asymmetric+Tetrahedron
There are six files, three Geogebra files and three corresponding PNG image files. Load the 'ggb'
files in Geogebra to see the circles that I used to construct the triangles. The files are my own work
and I release them as public domain. One way to print the files is to insert the PNG images into a
word processing document, scaling the image and minimising margins for efficient use of the paper.
Further development is limited only by your students' imaginations. There may be applications too.
I suggest tiling of a surface, such as the wall of an anechoic chamber, with a random pattern of
asymmetric tetrahedra. How could these shapes be used as building blocks in a three-dimensional
construction? An abstract animal-like bilaterally symmetric shape could be assembled from the
tetrahedrons and their mirror images. Another method of space filling is that sheet-based and rodbased tetrahedra could be mixed. Make a core asymmetric tetrahedron from triangular sheets. Then
surround it by its four mirror images, made out of drinking straws. Only 12 rods would be required,
as the core provides four base triangles. These are only suggestions. There are no rules, except those
you make yourself, and those you discover from the inherent mathematics.
I was inspired to create these geometry templates by Dr. Diana S. Perdue's discussion Request for
applications on a math problem in the LinkedIn group Math, Math Education, Math Culture.
I would also like to thank Dr. Linda Fahlberg-Stojanovska for advising that the templates would be
useful for mathematics classes, and for suggesting improvements to their design.