Why Do Shapes Tile the Plane Perfectly?

Shapes can tile the plane if they fit together perfectly like puzzle pieces. For example, squares are great for tiling because you can put them next to each other without any gaps or overlaps, just like floor tiles. But triangles and hexagons also work! Not all shapes do this, though, circles don't tile well because there are always spaces between them.

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Examples

  1. Squares on a floor look like they cover the whole room perfectly.
  2. Triangles can fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
  3. Circles are like coins that don’t quite fill up all the space.

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Categories: Math · geometry· tiling· shapes· math patterns