

Escher's, begin with a shape that repeats without gaps. Equilateral triangles and squares are good examples of regular polygons.Īll tessellations, even shapely and complex ones like M.C. Regular polygons are special cases of polygons in which all sides and all angles are equal. Polygons are two-dimensional shapes made up of line segments, such as triangles and rectangles. You can also tessellate a plane by combining regular polygons, or by mingling regular and semiregular polygons in particular arrangements.
#White grey tessellation triangle how to
In this article, we'll show you what these mathematical mosaics are, what kinds of symmetry they can possess and which special tessellations mathematicians and scientists keep in their toolbox of problem-solving tricks.įirst, let's look at how to build a tessellation. Beyond the transcendent beauty of a mosaic or engraving, tessellations find applications throughout mathematics, astronomy, biology, botany, ecology, computer graphics, materials science and a variety of simulations, including road systems. Mathematics, science and nature depend upon useful patterns like these, whatever their meaning. Tessera in turn may arise from the Greek word tessares, meaning four. In fact, the word "tessellation" derives from tessella, the diminutive form of the Latin word tessera, an individual, typically square, tile in a mosaic. Escher, or the breathtaking tile work of the 14th century Moorish fortification, the Alhambra, in Granada, Spain. Like π, e and φ, examples of these repeating patterns surround us every day, from mundane sidewalks, wallpapers, jigsaw puzzles and tiled floors to the grand art of Dutch graphic artist M.C. Science, nature and art also bubble over with tessellations. It even bears a relationship to another perennial pattern favorite, the Fibonacci sequence, which produces its own unique tiling progression. The golden ratio (φ) formed the basis of art, design, architecture and music long before people discovered it also defined natural arrangements of leaves and stems, bones, arteries and sunflowers, or matched the clock cycle of brain waves.

Euler's number (e) rears its head repeatedly in calculus, radioactive decay calculations, compound interest formulas and certain odd cases of probability. Pick apart any number of equations in geometry, physics, probability and statistics, even geomorphology and chaos theory, and you'll find pi (π) situated like a cornerstone. Tessellations - gapless mosaics of defined shapes - belong to a breed of ratios, constants and patterns that recur throughout architecture, reveal themselves under microscopes and radiate from every honeycomb and sunflower. Mathematics achieves the sublime sometimes, as with tessellations, it rises to art. Within its figures and formulas, the secular perceive order and the religious catch distant echoes of the language of creation. We study mathematics for its beauty, its elegance and its capacity to codify the patterns woven into the fabric of the universe. format ( size = w / 3 * h / 3, unit = u ) # Use the extent's spatial reference to project the output spatial_ref = extent. Syntax (Output_Feature_Class, Extent, s". To create a grid that excludes tessellation features that do not intersect features in another dataset, use the Select Layer By Location tool to select output polygons that contain the source features and use the Copy Features tool to make a permanent copy of the selected output features to a new feature class.For example, select all features in column A with GRID_ID like 'A-%', or select all features in row 1 with GRID_ID like '%-1'. This allows for easy selection of rows and columns using queries in the Select Layer By Attribute tool. The format for the IDs is A-1, A-2, B-1, B-2, and so on. The GRID_ID field provides a unique ID for each feature in the output feature class. The output features contain a GRID_ID field. This occurs because the edges of the tessellated grid will not always be straight lines and gaps would be present if the grid was limited by the input extent. To ensure the entire input extent is covered by the tessellated grid, the output features purposely extend beyond the input extent. The tessellation can be of triangles, squares, or hexagons. Generates a polygon feature class of a tessellated grid of regular polygons which will entirely cover a given extent.
