How many different ways are there to unfold an icosahedron?

January 4, 2006 1:37 PM

How many different ways are there to unfold an icosahedron?
posted by garethspor to Science & Nature (4 answers total)

You're going to have to be a little more specific about what constitutes "unfolding", and how to tell when two unfoldings are "different".
posted by Wolfdog at 1:43 PM on January 4, 2006

Are you saying: if you label each side (the inside and outside) and vertex of each face, then how many ways can you arrange the faces so that they will "fold" back to the original shape?

Can two faces be connected only by a vertex?

Are you asking us to do your homework for you?
posted by bshort at 1:54 PM on January 4, 2006

According to Mathworld, 43380 ways.
posted by driveler at 2:13 PM on January 4, 2006

I had thought about taking the first comment with: "lots," but I thought it might be flagged as snarky.

Thanks for validating me, driveler.
posted by StickyCarpet at 4:05 PM on January 4, 2006