Properties

Like their 3-dimensional analogues, the convex regular 4-polytopes can be naturally ordered by size as a measure of 4-dimensional content (hypervolume) for the same radius. Each greater polytope in the sequence is rounder than its predecessor, enclosing more content^[2] within the same radius. The 4-simplex (5-cell) is the limit smallest case, and the 120-cell is the largest. Complexity (as measured by comparing configuration matrices or simply the number of vertices) follows the same ordering.

Regular convex 4-polytopes
Symmetry group	A4	B4		F4	H4
Name	5-cell Hyper-tetrahedron 5-point	16-cell Hyper-octahedron 8-point	8-cell Hyper-cube 16-point	24-cell 24-point	600-cell Hyper-icosahedron 120-point	120-cell Hyper-dodecahedron 600-point
Schläfli symbol	{3, 3, 3}	{3, 3, 4}	{4, 3, 3}	{3, 4, 3}	{3, 3, 5}	{5, 3, 3}
Coxeter mirrors
Mirror dihedrals	𝝅/3 𝝅/3 𝝅/3 𝝅/2 𝝅/2 𝝅/2	𝝅/3 𝝅/3 𝝅/4 𝝅/2 𝝅/2 𝝅/2	𝝅/4 𝝅/3 𝝅/3 𝝅/2 𝝅/2 𝝅/2	𝝅/3 𝝅/4 𝝅/3 𝝅/2 𝝅/2 𝝅/2	𝝅/3 𝝅/3 𝝅/5 𝝅/2 𝝅/2 𝝅/2	𝝅/5 𝝅/3 𝝅/3 𝝅/2 𝝅/2 𝝅/2
Graph
Vertices	5 tetrahedral	8 octahedral	16 tetrahedral	24 cubical	120 icosahedral	600 tetrahedral
Edges	10 triangular	24 square	32 triangular	96 triangular	720 pentagonal	1200 triangular
Faces	10 triangles	32 triangles	24 squares	96 triangles	1200 triangles	720 pentagons
Cells	5 tetrahedra	16 tetrahedra	8 cubes	24 octahedra	600 tetrahedra	120 dodecahedra
Tori	1 5-tetrahedron	2 8-tetrahedron	2 4-cube	4 6-octahedron	20 30-tetrahedron	12 10-dodecahedron
Inscribed	120 in 120-cell	675 in 120-cell	2 16-cells	3 8-cells	25 24-cells	10 600-cells
Great polygons		2 squares x 3	4 rectangles x 4	4 hexagons x 4	12 decagons x 6	100 irregular hexagons x 4
Petrie polygons	1 pentagon x 3	1 octagon x 3	2 octagons x 4	2 dodecagons x 4	4 30-gons x 6	20 30-gons x 4
Long radius	${\displaystyle 1}$	${\displaystyle 1}$	${\displaystyle 1}$	${\displaystyle 1}$	${\displaystyle 1}$	${\displaystyle 1}$
Edge length	${\displaystyle {\sqrt {\tfrac {5}{2}}}\approx 1.581}$	${\displaystyle {\sqrt {2}}\approx 1.414}$	${\displaystyle 1}$	${\displaystyle 1}$	${\displaystyle {\tfrac {1}{\phi }}\approx 0.618}$	${\displaystyle {\tfrac {1}{\phi ^{2}{\sqrt {2}}}}\approx 0.270}$
Short radius	${\displaystyle {\tfrac {1}{4}}}$	${\displaystyle {\tfrac {1}{2}}}$	${\displaystyle {\tfrac {1}{2}}}$	${\displaystyle {\sqrt {\tfrac {1}{2}}}\approx 0.707}$	${\displaystyle {\sqrt {\tfrac {\phi ^{4}}{8}}}\approx 0.926}$	${\displaystyle {\sqrt {\tfrac {\phi ^{4}}{8}}}\approx 0.926}$
Area	${\displaystyle 10\left({\tfrac {5{\sqrt {3}}}{8}}\right)\approx 10.825}$	${\displaystyle 32\left({\sqrt {\tfrac {3}{4}}}\right)\approx 27.713}$	${\displaystyle 24}$	${\displaystyle 96\left({\sqrt {\tfrac {3}{16}}}\right)\approx 41.569}$	${\displaystyle 1200\left({\tfrac {\sqrt {3}}{4\phi ^{2}}}\right)\approx 198.48}$	${\displaystyle 720\left({\tfrac {\sqrt {25+10{\sqrt {5}}}}{8\phi ^{4}}}\right)\approx 90.366}$
Volume	${\displaystyle 5\left({\tfrac {5{\sqrt {5}}}{24}}\right)\approx 2.329}$	${\displaystyle 16\left({\tfrac {1}{3}}\right)\approx 5.333}$	${\displaystyle 8}$	${\displaystyle 24\left({\tfrac {\sqrt {2}}{3}}\right)\approx 11.314}$	${\displaystyle 600\left({\tfrac {\sqrt {2}}{12\phi ^{3}}}\right)\approx 16.693}$	${\displaystyle 120\left({\tfrac {15+7{\sqrt {5}}}{4\phi ^{6}{\sqrt {8}}}}\right)\approx 18.118}$
4-Content	${\displaystyle {\tfrac {\sqrt {5}}{24}}\left({\tfrac {\sqrt {5}}{2}}\right)^{4}\approx 0.146}$	${\displaystyle {\tfrac {2}{3}}\approx 0.667}$	${\displaystyle 1}$	${\displaystyle 2}$	${\displaystyle {\tfrac {{\text{Short}}\times {\text{Vol}}}{4}}\approx 3.863}$	${\displaystyle {\tfrac {{\text{Short}}\times {\text{Vol}}}{4}}\approx 4.193}$

The following table lists some properties of the six convex regular 4-polytopes. The symmetry groups of these 4-polytopes are all Coxeter groups and given in the notation described in that article. The number following the name of the group is the order of the group.

Names	Image	Family	Schläfli Coxeter	V	E	F	C	Vert. fig.	Dual	Symmetry group
5-cell pentachoron pentatope 4-simplex		n-simplex (An family)	{3,3,3}	5	10	10 {3}	5 {3,3}	{3,3}	self-dual	A4 [3,3,3]	120
16-cell hexadecachoron 4-orthoplex		n-orthoplex (Bn family)	{3,3,4}	8	24	32 {3}	16 {3,3}	{3,4}	8-cell	B4 [4,3,3]	384
8-cell octachoron tesseract 4-cube		hypercube n-cube (Bn family)	{4,3,3}	16	32	24 {4}	8 {4,3}	{3,3}	16-cell
24-cell icositetrachoron octaplex polyoctahedron (pO)		Fn family	{3,4,3}	24	96	96 {3}	24 {3,4}	{4,3}	self-dual	F4 [3,4,3]	1152
600-cell hexacosichoron tetraplex polytetrahedron (pT)		n-pentagonal polytope (Hn family)	{3,3,5}	120	720	1200 {3}	600 {3,3}	{3,5}	120-cell	H4 [5,3,3]	14400
120-cell hecatonicosachoron dodecacontachoron dodecaplex polydodecahedron (pD)		n-pentagonal polytope (Hn family)	{5,3,3}	600	1200	720 {5}	120 {5,3}	{3,3}	600-cell

John Conway advocated the names simplex, orthoplex, tesseract, octaplex or polyoctahedron (pO), tetraplex or polytetrahedron (pT), and dodecaplex or polydodecahedron (pD).^[3]

Norman Johnson advocated the names n-cell, or pentachoron, hexadecachoron, tesseract or octachoron, icositetrachoron, hexacosichoron, and hecatonicosachoron (or dodecacontachoron), coining the term polychoron being a 4D analogy to the 3D polyhedron, and 2D polygon, expressed from the Greek roots poly ("many") and choros ("room" or "space").^[4][5]

The Euler characteristic for all 4-polytopes is zero, we have the 4-dimensional analogue of Euler's polyhedral formula:

${\displaystyle N_{0}-N_{1}+N_{2}-N_{3}=0\,}$

where N_k denotes the number of k-faces in the polytope (a vertex is a 0-face, an edge is a 1-face, etc.).

The topology of any given 4-polytope is defined by its Betti numbers and torsion coefficients.^[6]

As configurations

A regular 4-polytope can be completely described as a configuration matrix containing counts of its component elements. The rows and columns correspond to vertices, edges, faces, and cells. The diagonal numbers (upper left to lower right) say how many of each element occur in the whole 4-polytope. The non-diagonal numbers say how many of the column's element occur in or at the row's element. For example, there are 2 vertices in each edge (each edge has 2 vertices), and 2 cells meet at each face (each face belongs to 2 cells), in any regular 4-polytope. The configuration for the dual polytope can be obtained by rotating the matrix by 180 degrees.^[7][8]

5-cell {3,3,3}	16-cell {3,3,4}	8-cell {4,3,3}	24-cell {3,4,3}	600-cell {3,3,5}	120-cell {5,3,3}
${\displaystyle {\begin{bmatrix}{\begin{matrix}5&4&6&4\\2&10&3&3\\3&3&10&2\\4&6&4&5\end{matrix}}\end{bmatrix}}}$	${\displaystyle {\begin{bmatrix}{\begin{matrix}8&6&12&8\\2&24&4&4\\3&3&32&2\\4&6&4&16\end{matrix}}\end{bmatrix}}}$	${\displaystyle {\begin{bmatrix}{\begin{matrix}16&4&6&4\\2&32&3&3\\4&4&24&2\\8&12&6&8\end{matrix}}\end{bmatrix}}}$	${\displaystyle {\begin{bmatrix}{\begin{matrix}24&8&12&6\\2&96&3&3\\3&3&96&2\\6&12&8&24\end{matrix}}\end{bmatrix}}}$	${\displaystyle {\begin{bmatrix}{\begin{matrix}120&12&30&20\\2&720&5&5\\3&3&1200&2\\4&6&4&600\end{matrix}}\end{bmatrix}}}$	${\displaystyle {\begin{bmatrix}{\begin{matrix}600&4&6&4\\2&1200&3&3\\5&5&720&2\\20&30&12&120\end{matrix}}\end{bmatrix}}}$

Visualization

The following table shows some 2-dimensional projections of these 4-polytopes. Various other visualizations can be found in the external links below. The Coxeter-Dynkin diagram graphs are also given below the Schläfli symbol.

A4 = [3,3,3]	B4 = [4,3,3]		F4 = [3,4,3]	H4 = [5,3,3]
5-cell	16-cell	8-cell	24-cell	600-cell	120-cell
{3,3,3}	{3,3,4}	{4,3,3}	{3,4,3}	{3,3,5}	{5,3,3}
Solid 3D orthographic projections
Tetrahedral envelope (cell/vertex-centered)	Cubic envelope (cell-centered)	Cubic envelope (cell-centered)	Cuboctahedral envelope (cell-centered)	Pentakis icosidodecahedral envelope (vertex-centered)	Truncated rhombic triacontahedron envelope (cell-centered)
Wireframe Schlegel diagrams (Perspective projection)
Cell-centered	Cell-centered	Cell-centered	Cell-centered	Vertex-centered	Cell-centered
Wireframe stereographic projections (3-sphere)

Names

Their names given here were given by John Conway, extending Cayley's names for the Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra: along with stellated and great, he adds a grand modifier. Conway offered these operational definitions:

1. stellation – replaces edges with longer edges in same lines. (Example: a pentagon stellates into a pentagram)
2. greatening – replaces the faces with large ones in same planes. (Example: an icosahedron greatens into a great icosahedron)
3. aggrandizement – replaces the cells with large ones in same 3-spaces. (Example: a 600-cell aggrandizes into a grand 600-cell)

John Conway names the 10 forms from 3 regular celled 4-polytopes: pT=polytetrahedron {3,3,5} (a tetrahedral 600-cell), pI=polyicoshedron {3,5,5/2} (an icosahedral 120-cell), and pD=polydodecahedron {5,3,3} (a dodecahedral 120-cell), with prefix modifiers: g, a, and s for great, (ag)grand, and stellated. The final stellation, the great grand stellated polydodecahedron contains them all as gaspD.

Symmetry

All ten polychora have [3,3,5] (H₄) hexacosichoric symmetry. They are generated from 6 related Goursat tetrahedra rational-order symmetry groups: [3,5,5/2], [5,5/2,5], [5,3,5/2], [5/2,5,5/2], [5,5/2,3], and [3,3,5/2].

Each group has 2 regular star-polychora, except for two groups which are self-dual, having only one. So there are 4 dual-pairs and 2 self-dual forms among the ten regular star polychora.

Properties

Note:

• There are 2 unique vertex arrangements, matching those of the 120-cell and 600-cell.
• There are 4 unique edge arrangements, which are shown as wireframes orthographic projections.
• There are 7 unique face arrangements, shown as solids (face-colored) orthographic projections.

The cells (polyhedra), their faces (polygons), the polygonal edge figures and polyhedral vertex figures are identified by their Schläfli symbols.

Name Conway (abbrev.)	Orthogonal projection	Schläfli Coxeter	C {p, q}	F {p}	E {r}	V {q, r}	Dens.	χ
Icosahedral 120-cell polyicosahedron (pI)		{3,5,5/2}	120 {3,5}	1200 {3}	720 {5/2}	120 {5,5/2}	4	480
Small stellated 120-cell stellated polydodecahedron (spD)		{5/2,5,3}	120 {5/2,5}	720 {5/2}	1200 {3}	120 {5,3}	4	−480
Great 120-cell great polydodecahedron (gpD)		{5,5/2,5}	120 {5,5/2}	720 {5}	720 {5}	120 {5/2,5}	6	0
Grand 120-cell grand polydodecahedron (apD)		{5,3,5/2}	120 {5,3}	720 {5}	720 {5/2}	120 {3,5/2}	20	0
Great stellated 120-cell great stellated polydodecahedron (gspD)		{5/2,3,5}	120 {5/2,3}	720 {5/2}	720 {5}	120 {3,5}	20	0
Grand stellated 120-cell grand stellated polydodecahedron (aspD)		{5/2,5,5/2}	120 {5/2,5}	720 {5/2}	720 {5/2}	120 {5,5/2}	66	0
Great grand 120-cell great grand polydodecahedron (gapD)		{5,5/2,3}	120 {5,5/2}	720 {5}	1200 {3}	120 {5/2,3}	76	−480
Great icosahedral 120-cell great polyicosahedron (gpI)		{3,5/2,5}	120 {3,5/2}	1200 {3}	720 {5}	120 {5/2,5}	76	480
Grand 600-cell grand polytetrahedron (apT)		{3,3,5/2}	600 {3,3}	1200 {3}	720 {5/2}	120 {3,5/2}	191	0
Great grand stellated 120-cell great grand stellated polydodecahedron (gaspD)		{5/2,3,3}	120 {5/2,3}	720 {5/2}	1200 {3}	600 {3,3}	191	0

Citations

Bibliography