ARTICLES Platonic Passages

摘要

It is well known that a hole can be cut in a cube large enough to permit a second cube of equal size to pass through, a result attributed to Prince Rupert of the Rhine by J. Wallis more than three centuries ago. C. Scriba showed nearly 50 years ago that the tetrahedron and the octahedron have this same property. Somewhat surprisingly, the remaining two platonic solids, the dodecahedron and the icosahedron, also have this property: each can be passed through a suitable tunnel in another of the same size and kind. We supply the details.