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From satellites to the London Olympics, all in one career

A favourite from the archive...
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Finding the area of a circle really is a piece of cake.

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September 2008
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quasicrystal

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This pattern with kite-shaped tiles can be extended to cover any area, but however big we make it, the pattern never repeats itself. Alison Boyle investigates aperiodic tilings, which have had unexpected applications in describing new crystal structures.

Tags: tessellation : periodic tiling : aperiodic tiling : quasiperiodicity : quasicrystal : Penrose tiling : Escher