Cubes in  motion

Cubes in  motion

This animated gif is harmonious and fine.

The cube is one of the five Platonic solids.

The regularity of the Platonic solids is extraordinarily suggestive: for this motive, they were extensively studied since ancient times, often looking for hidden meanings in them and giving them esoteric values.

They were studied by Pythagoras and Plato. 

Plato, in the dialogue Timaeus, associated an element (among the four classical elements) to each of them: fire with the tetrahedron, earth with the cube, air with the octahedron, water with the icosahedron, while in the dialogue Phaedo he thought that the dodecahedron was the shape of  Universe.

They were then studied with greater rationality by Greek-Alexandrian surveyors. The construction of these solids is contained in Book XIII of Euclid’s Elements. Proposition 13 describes the construction of the regular tetrahedron, Proposition 14 is dedicated to regular octahedron, Proposition 15 to the cube, Proposition 16 to the regular icosahedron  and Proposition 17 to the regular dodecahedron.

The interest of mathematicians and artists about those continued through the centuries.

You can deepen here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_solid

The cube is the only one of the Platonic solids that, with its replicas, is able to fill the space with regularity, that is, to provide a tessellation of space.

I’m fascinated by this geometric shape.

Animated gif source: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me70b6T4Nx1qfjvexo1_500.gif

Credits: archery

#mathematics #animated_gif  #geometric_gif  #cube #platonic_solids