Colored Octohedra
Source:
March 23, 2008
countingdistinguishabilitygeometry3D geometryoctahedronrotationgeometric transformation
Problem Statement
Eight congruent equilateral triangles, each of a different color, are used to construct a regular octahedron. How many distinguishable ways are there to construct the octahedron? (Two colored octahedrons are distinguishable if neither can be rotated to look just like the other.)
[asy]import three;
import math;
size(180);
defaultpen(linewidth(.8pt));
currentprojection=orthographic(2,0.2,1);triple A=(0,0,1);
triple B=(sqrt(2)/2,sqrt(2)/2,0);
triple C=(sqrt(2)/2,-sqrt(2)/2,0);
triple D=(-sqrt(2)/2,-sqrt(2)/2,0);
triple E=(-sqrt(2)/2,sqrt(2)/2,0);
triple F=(0,0,-1);
draw(A--B--E--cycle);
draw(A--C--D--cycle);
draw(F--C--B--cycle);
draw(F--D--E--cycle,dotted+linewidth(0.7));[/asy]