Design and construction toy

A design and construction toy comprising a plurality of relatively rigid elements, each element having:

• (1) a first side member and a second side member, with each of said side members having an outer face, an inner face, a top face and a bottom face, and the first side member and second side member being joined at ends thereof to form an apex and to provide a formed equilateral triangle with an open base and wherein the height from the base to the apex is different for each said element;
• (2) a predetermined distance between said outer face and said inner face whereby a derived distance is established between the inner face and the outer face along the juncture of the said joined ends at the said apex;
• (3) a lateral distance between said top face and said bottom face which is at least 0.1 and no more than 5.0 times the said predetermined distance;
• and
• (4) a height from the said base to the said apex of the said formed equilateral triangle which is substantially equal to the height of a formed triangle having the greatest height, less an amount substantially equal to the sum of the said derived distances of all of the formed triangles having a greater height;
• wherein a plurality of the said elements are nestable, outer face to inner face, and a nested plurality of the said elements form an equilateral triangle and nests of nested elements are arrangeable in a nested configuration such that the nested configuration has six equal sides.