Distel full, Exhibit Size

The surface Thistle with the equation x^2+y^2+z^2+c(x^2+y^2)(x^2+z^2)(y^2+z^2) = 1 excels through its extraordinary symmetry. The six spikes are located on the three coordinate axes of the Euclidian space. Surprisingly, it is not possible to construct totally regular stars such as Thistle having any number of spikes. There can be only four, six, eight, twelve or twenty spikes according to the sides of the Platonic solids. The equation was suggested to use for the IMAGINARY exhibition by Herwig Hauser. The 3d-data was produced by Oliver Labs (www.MO-Labs.com) and can be downloaded at the IMAGINARY website. Find the Distel and other cool surfaces in the IMAGINARY gallery.

IMAGINARY is a project by the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach and supported by the Klaus Tschira Foundation.

Please note: IMAGINARY is an open source and non-commercial project. All 3d files are available under an open license, such that you can re-print the sculptures for own exhibitions (following the license specifications). To reimburse our "3D data expert", who takes care to polish and prepare the 3d data and to put the sculptures on the Shapeways shop, we added to this sculpture a 10% fee to the Shapeways price. This amount will be used only for work related to offering more 3d data and sculptures openly and freely to everyone. You can also print this sculpture from your own account.