The geometric figures on this month's cover are shapes likely to be useful in describing real molecules. They are taken from the article "Generating Closed Shapes from Regular Tilings" by William O. J. Boo and Daniell L. Mattern. Two side-by-side views of each model are shown, one with a C3 axis of symmetry perpendicular to the page and one down a C2 axis. The figure at the upper left represents one of the eight deltahedra: convex polyhedra all of whose faces are equilateral triangles. (Other deltahedra include the tetrahedron, octahedron, and icosahedron.) The other figures are derived from the first by geometric transformations described in the article.
The cover was designed by Betsy True.
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