Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wpx84 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-16T19:29:32.041Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A family of golden triangle tile patterns

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Robert G. Clason*
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859 USA

Extract

An intriguing family of tile patterns can be generated by applying the self-replicating geometry of a pair of isosceles triangles called the golden triangles. The patterns have an aesthetic appeal and have geometric properties which might be investigated further. The family includes patterns which were discovered by Roger Penrose in the 1970s, and which received much attention when they were proposed as a model for quasicrystals. The use of golden triangles to obtain tile patterns stems from the work of R.M. Robinson cited in [2, p540] and extends the investigations of [3]. The method employed in obtaining the patterns is experimental mathematics; geometrically defined experiments are performed using a computer and the results examined for their properties.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Nelson, D.R., “Quasicrystals”, Scientific American 255 (2) 1986, 4251.Google Scholar
2. Grünbaum, B., and Shephard, G.C., Tilings and Patterns, W.H. Freeman, NY (1987).Google Scholar
3. Clason, R., “Tiling with golden triangles and Penrose rhombs using Logo”, Computers in Math, and Science Teaching, 9(2), 1989/90, 4153.Google Scholar
4. Clason, R., “Tile patterns with Logo - part III: Tile Patterns from Mult Tiles using Logo”, Computers in Math, and Science Teaching, 10(3), 1991, 5971.Google Scholar
5. LeBrecque, M., “Quasicrystals: opening the door to forbidden symmetries”. Mosaic 18(4), 223, 1987/88.Google Scholar
6. Danzer, L., Grünbaum, B., and Shephard, G.C., “Can all the tiles of a tiling have fivefold symmetry?Amer. Math. Monthly, 1982, 568570 and 583–585.Google Scholar
7. Gardner, M., Penrose tiles to trapdoor ciphers, W.H. Freeman, NY (1989).Google Scholar