Cutting off the vertices of a polyhedron creates another polyhedron which may also have faces that are regular polygons. If one cuts off the vertices of a regular eight-sided figure known at an octahedron, one can produce this truncated octahedron, which has eight faces that are regular hexagons and six that are squares. The solid angles of the figure are equal, and it is called a semi-regular solid. The ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes enumerated the eighteen regular and semi-regular solids, and they are known as Archimedean solids in his honor. Only the skeleton of the solid is shown in this model.
Some hobbyists enjoy figuring out how to make attractive models of geometric surfaces that have long been known. Harold Walter Benson, a machinist from Chicago, made this model in the 1990s, when he was retired and living in South Carolina.
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