The geometry of quadrangular convex pyramids

Abstract

A convex quadrangular pyramid $ABCDE$, where $ABCD$ is the base and $E$ -- the apex, is called \emph{strongly flexible}, if it belongs to a continuous family of pairwise non-congruent quadrangular pyramids that have the same lengths of corresponding edges. $ABCDE$ is called \emph{strongly rigid}, if such family does not exist. We prove the strong rigidity of convex quadrangular pyramids and prove that strong rigidity fails in the self-intersecting case. Let $L=\{l_1,\ldots,l_8\}$ be a set of positive numbers, then a \emph{realization} of $L$ is a convex quadrangular pyramid $ABCDE$ such, that $|AB|=l_1$, $|BC|=l_2$, $|CD|=l_3$, $|DA|=l_4$, $|EA|=l_5$, $|EB|=l_6$, $|EC|=l_7$, $|ED|=l_8$. We prove that the number of pairwise non-congruent realizations is $\leqslant 4$ and give an example of a set $L$ with three pairwise non-congruent realizations.