Article by BME authors in Mathematical Intelligencer

In 1978, the renowned journal published an article on the Rubik's Cube, in 2006 on the “Gömböc,” and now on "The balance of tetrahedra", written by researchers from BME.

The article discusses the equilibria of the tetrahedron. Its lead author, Gergő Almádi is a fourth-year student of architecture at BME. His co-authors are: Robert Dawson, professor at Saint Mary University in Canada, Gábor Domokos, professor at BME, and Krisztina Regős, second-year doctoral student at BME.

One of the main conclusions of the study is the proof that there is no “Gömböc-like”, i.e. mono-monostatic body among inhomogeneous tetrahedra with arbitrary mass distribution. Surprisingly, this was previously unknown. However, the article shows a mono-monostatic pentahedron (a body with 5 sides and 5 vertices). The authors have also collected a number of very interesting new claims and presented them in an illustrative form that can be understood even by interested secondary school students.

Rector’s Cabinet Communications Directorate