click here for the plus home page
© 1997-2009, Millennium Mathematics Project, University of Cambridge.
Permission is granted to print and copy this page on paper for non-commercial use. For other uses, including electronic redistribution, please contact us.
Do you know what's good for you?
icon

Understand the maths behind health and medicine

Careers with maths
icon

Gavin Harper is a mathematician working right at the heart of genetics

A favourite from the archive...
Subscribe to our RSS feed:
AddThis Feed Button subscribe to our RSS feed
 
March 2010
Tags

spherical geometry

Feature icon

Tags: curvature : trigonometry : escher : Euclidean geometry : Euclid's Elements : flatness : spherical geometry : hyperbolic geometry : Mercator projection : curvature of space


Feature icon

Squares do it, triangles do it, even hexagons do it — but pentagons don't. They just won't fit together to tile a flat surface. So are there any tilings based on fiveness? Craig Kaplan takes us through the five-fold tiling problem and uncovers some interesting designs in the process.

Tags: tiling : geometry : Euclidean geometry : spherical geometry : hyperbolic geometry : symmetry : five-fold tiling problem