Tessellations

Tessellation Definition
A tessellation is created when a shape is repeated over and over again covering a plane without any gaps or overlaps. Another word for a tessellation is a tiling.

Tiling Definition
When you fit individual tiles together with no gaps or overlaps to fill a flat space like a ceiling, wall, or floor, you have a tiling.

What are Tessell ations

The word 'tessera' in latin means a small stone cube. They were used to make up 'tessellata' - the mosaic pictures forming floors and tilings in oman buildings The term has become more specialised and is often used to refer to pictures or tiles, mostly in the form of animals and other life forms, which cover the surface of a plane in a symmetrical way without overlapping or leaving gaps.

Symmetry
!f you look at a completed tessellation, you will see the original motif repeats in a pattern. "ne mathematical idea that can be emphasi#ed through tessellations is symmetry. There are $% possible ways that a pattern can be used to tile a flat surface or 'wallpaper'.

&olya' $% ways to tile -etween $*./ and $*,+ (scher a surface produced ,. colored drawings with a wide variety of symmetry types while working on possible periodic tilings. 0e adopted a highly mathematical approach with a systematic study using a notation which he invented himself.

(scher read &)lya's $*+, paper on plane symmetry groups.(scher understood the $% plane symmetry groups described in the mathematician &)lya's paper, even though he didn't understand the abstract concept of the groups discussed in the paper.

Four Types of Symmetry in a Plane

There are , ways of moving a motif to another position in the pattern. These were described by (scher.

Translation eflection otation 1lide eflection

Translation A translation is a shape that is simply translated, or slid, across the paper and drawn again in another place.

eflection

otation

1lide eflection !n glide reflection, reflection and translation are used concurrently much like the following piece by (scher, 0orseman. There is no reflectional symmetry, nor is there rotational symmetry.

A reflection is a otation is spinning the shape that has pattern around a point, been flipped. rotating it. A rotation, or 3ost commonly turn, occurs when an flipped directly to ob8ect is moved in a the left or right circular fashion around a 4over a 5y5 a6is7 or central point which does flipped to the top not move. or bottom 4over an 565 a6is7, A good e6ample of a reflections can The rotation is one 5wing5 of also be done at an a pinwheel which turns translation angle. shows the around the center geometric point. otations always shape in the !f a reflection has have a center, and an same been done angle of rotation. alignment as correctly, you can the original2 it draw an imaginary does not turn line right through or flip. the middle, and the two parts will be symmetrical 5mirror5 images. To reflect a shape across an a6is is to plot a special

corresponding point for every point in the original shape.

&entomino 9hapes A pentomino is the shape of five connected checkerboard s:uares. There are only twelve different pentomino shapes

Rectangles

Triangle s

Hexagon s

(scher painted this study of a tile from the Alhambra.

(scher works based on a circle

Tesselation to the limit of a circle.

Islamic T il e s
These are star pattern tiles.

0ere are more !slami c star patter n tiles.

Tessellati ons wit ha 3-D effe ct

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