Search arXiv⌕ Search

arXiv · 2506.18473

Old problem revisited: Which equilateral convex polygons tile the plane?

Abstract

We present a simplified proof of a forty-year-old result concerning the tiling of the plane with equilateral convex polygons. Our approach is based on a theorem by M. Rao, who used an exhaustive computer search to confirm the completeness of the well-known list of fifteen pentagon types. Assuming the validity of Rao's result, we provide a concise and mainly geometric proof of a tiling theorem originally due to Hirschhorn and Hunt. Finally, a possible connection to quasicrystals is sketched.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Bernhard Klaassen. 2025-11-10. Old problem revisited: Which equilateral convex polygons tile the plane?. https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.18473

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Equilibrium Laws for Julia's Zero and the Hyperbolic Zero of Binary Forms

For a real binary form with no real roots, Julia's zero and the hyperbolic zero are two SL(2,R)-equivariant points in the upper half-plane. We show that they admit closely related equilibrium characterizations, with radial weights given respectively by the hyperbolic tangent and hyperbolic sine of the distances to the roots. This common framework gives geometric criteria for coincidence of the two zero maps. They always agree for binary quartics; for binary sextics they agree exactly when the three upper-half-plane roots form an equilateral hyperbolic triangle, or are collinear with one root the hyperbolic midpoint of the other two. We also obtain a corresponding result for collinear binary octics. The two equilibrium laws further reveal a sharp difference in the influence of distant roots. A strict majority of roots confined to a compact set keeps Julia's zero in a compact set, and the threshold one-half is optimal. In contrast, an escaping minority can force the hyperbolic zero to escape at linear scale. We also illustrate the computational advantages of the explicit formula for the hyperbolic zero.

math.MG↗

Hopf quotients of the infinite-dimensional Gaussian pyramid

We study the infinite-dimensional Gaussian pyramid and its quotients by the global sign flip and the $U(1)$-Hopf action. We resolve affirmatively a long-standing problem posed by Tomohiro Fukaya around 2014: these three limiting geometries are pairwise non-similar, meaning that no positive rescaling makes any two of them coincide.

math.MG↗

The topology of Gromov--Hausdorff space

We prove that the space of isometry classes of nonempty compact metric spaces, equipped with the Gromov--Hausdorff distance, is homeomorphic to the real separable infinite-dimensional Hilbert space. We construct a continuous assignment of full-support probability measures that is equivariant under isometries and finite-dimensional local approximations that control all pairwise distances. These approximations yield the absolute retract property for all metrizable spaces. We also prove that any countable family of continuous maps from compact metrizable spaces can be approximated, with respect to a prescribed open cover, by maps whose images form a discrete family.

math.MG↗