Tessellation

A tessellated plane seen in street brickwork.

A tessellation or tiling of the plane is a collection of plane figures that fills the plane with
no overlaps and no gaps. One may also speak of tessellations of the parts of the plane or
of other surfaces. Generalizations to higher dimensions are also possible. Tessellations
frequently appeared in the art of M. C. Escher. Tessellations are seen throughout art
history, from ancient architecture to modern art.

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. Read more here: What is a Tiling?

A dictionary* will tell you that the word "tessellate" means to form or arrange small
squares in a checkered or mosaic pattern. The word "tessellate" is derived from the Ionic
version of the Greek word "tesseres," which in English means "four." The first tilings
were made from square tiles.

A regular polygon has 3 or 4 or 5 or more sides and angles, all equal. A regular
tessellation means a tessellation made up of congruent regular polygons. [Remember:
Regular means that the sides of the polygon are all the same length. Congruent means
that the polygons that you put together are all the same size and shape.]

Only three regular polygons tessellate in the Euclidean plane: triangles, squares or
hexagons.We can't show the entire plane, but imagine that these are pieces taken from
planes that have been tiled. Here are examples of

a tessellation of triangles

a tessellation of squares

a tessellation of hexagons
A tessellation of triangles has six polygons surrounding a vertex, and each of them has
three sides: "3.3.3.3.3.3".

Semi-regular Tessellations

You can also use a variety of regular polygons to make semi-regular tessellations. A
semiregular tessellation has two properties which are:

1. It is formed by regular polygons.

2. The arrangement of polygons at every vertex point is identical.

Here are the eight semi-regular tessellations:

 The Geometer's Sketchpad and Tessellations

Cathi Sanders
Punahou School, Honolulu, Hawaii

Tessellation Tutorials || Student Sketchpad Tessellations || Suzanne's Math Lessons

Construct a parallelogram, using Parallel

Line in the Construct menu.

Construct a random shape on the left side of

the parallelogram.

Select D and then C, and Mark Vector "D-

>C" in the Transform menu. Then select all
of the random shape and Translate it By
Marked Vector using the Transform menu.
(Vector is the name for a segment with a
given length and a given direction.)
Construct a 2nd random shape on the top of
the parallelogram.

Mark D to A as a vector, and translate the

2nd random shape.

Select the vertices of your polygon in

consecutive order and Construct Polygon
Interior

Translate the whole polygon (vertices, sides and interior) by a vector DC and then by
a vector DA to create a tessellation. Use different colors for adjacent polygons. Drag
any point to change your tessellation.
You may download and experiment with the sketch, or try a JavaSketchpad version.

[Download ToTessellate.gsp]