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What a Greek Mathematician and a Public Art Project Have to Do With Car Tires

The new rhombicosidodecahedron is at Squirrel Lake Park.

Liberty Buick GMC enjoys a prime location between Charlotte and Matthews. While we don't always have time to get out for a walk – and frankly we do a lot of walking around the car lot anyway – when we do head out and explore on foot, we like to head to somewhere green.

Near Squirrel Lake Park, Matthews has the Four Mile Creek Greenway, which connects the park to downtown and neighborhoods along East John Street and South Trade Street. The greenway is the first in the town. While its name may suggest that one might travel four miles along its course, it would take a trip down and back to come close. The Four Mile Creek Greenway is 1.93 miles long.

Four Mile Creek greenway recently got its very own rhombicosidodecahedron. It's a word that rolls right off the tongue just like Enclave, Regal, Yukon, and Terrain. Right?

But just what is a rhombicosidodecahedron? Our team at Liberty Buick GMC gave it some guesses.

"A general." — Debbie Briant, business development representative

"A dinosaur." — Ken Gregory, used car manager

"An elephant." — Brad McCorkle, general manager

"A half rhinoceros, half horse." — Ben Downs, salesman

"A geometric shape." — Eric Beckner, business development manager

"A waterfall." — Rob Mullis, salesman

"A penguin." — Jacob Maynes, service advisor

"A 12-sided shape with 4 rhombi." — Maddy McCorkle, owner's daughter

"A dinosaur." — Jed Galic, service technician

"A fire hydrant." — Steve Lee, salesman

Those who loved math class or studied Latin in school have an advantage when it comes to the etymology of rhombicosidodecahedron. In other words, there are clues within the word itself. Remember geometry and the shapes rhombus — a four-sided shape with all sides the same length — and decahedron — a 10-sided shape? Well a rhombicosidodecahedron is an Archimedian solid, featuring 20 regular triangle faces, 30 square faces, 12 regular pentagon faces, 60 vertices and 120 edges. 

Archimedes was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. You might know his work – he derived an accurate approximation of the mathematical constant pi (3.14159…), which is used in figuring out the area of a circle.

Just think about it. The reason we can calculate the size difference in tires for a 2018 GMC Sierra versus a 2018 Buick Lacrosse is because of this guy!

Fun fact: the 22-letter rhombicosidodecahedron was featured in Season 8 of the television show “The Big Bang Theory" as the answer to an impromptu science quiz in the characters' Sheldon and Leonard's living room.

The rhombicosidodecahedron in Matthews is the latest addition to the town's public art collection. The small, red metal sculpture is on display near the Four Mile Creek greenway's entrance to Squirrel Lake Park. Artist and former engineer Robert Sebrosky, of Matthews, donated the piece.

Want to see the rhombicosidodecahedron in person? Let's go take a test drive. Squirrel Lake Park is just 15 minutes from the dealership.

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