In recreational mathematics, a polyabolo (also known as a polytan) is a shape formed by gluing isosceles right triangles edge-to-edge, making a polyform with the isosceles right triangle as the base form. Polyaboloes were introduced by Martin Gardner in his June 1967 "Mathematical Games column" in Scientific American . [1]
The name polyabolo is a back formation from the juggling object 'diabolo', although the shape formed by joining two triangles at just one vertex is not a proper polyabolo. By false analogy, treating the di- in diabolo as meaning "two", polyaboloes with from 1 to 10 cells are called respectively monaboloes, diaboloes, triaboloes, tetraboloes, pentaboloes, hexaboloes, heptaboloes, octaboloes, enneaboloes, and decaboloes. The name polytan is derived from Henri Picciotto's name tetratan and alludes to the ancient Chinese amusement of tangrams.
There are two ways in which a square in a polyabolo can consist of two isosceles right triangles, but polyaboloes are considered equivalent if they have the same boundaries. The number of nonequivalent polyaboloes composed of 1, 2, 3, … triangles is 1, 3, 4, 14, 30, 107, 318, 1116, 3743, … (sequence A006074 in the OEIS ).
Polyaboloes that are confined strictly to the plane and cannot be turned over may be termed one-sided. The number of one-sided polyaboloes composed of 1, 2, 3, … triangles is 1, 4, 6, 22, 56, 198, 624, 2182, 7448, … (sequence A151519 in the OEIS ).
As for a polyomino, a polyabolo that can be neither turned over nor rotated may be termed fixed. A polyabolo with no symmetries (rotation or reflection) corresponds to 8 distinct fixed polyaboloes.
A non-simply connected polyabolo is one that has one or more holes in it. The smallest value of n for which an n-abolo is non-simply connected is 7.
In 1968, David A. Klarner defined the order of a polyomino. Similarly, the order of a polyabolo P can be defined as the minimum number of congruent copies of P that can be assembled (allowing translation, rotation, and reflection) to form a rectangle.
A polyabolo has order 1 if and only if it is itself a rectangle. Polyaboloes of order 2 are also easily recognisable. Solomon W. Golomb found polyaboloes, including a triabolo, of order 8. [2] Michael Reid found a heptabolo of order 6. [3] Higher orders are possible.
There are interesting tessellations of the Euclidean plane involving polyaboloes. One such is the tetrakis square tiling, a monohedral tessellation that fills the entire Euclidean plane with 45–45–90 triangles.
The Compatibility Problem is to take two or more polyaboloes and find a figure that can be tiled with each. This problem has been studied far less than the Compatibility Problem for polyominoes. Systematic results first appeared in 2004 at Erich Friedman's website Math Magic. [4]
Derived from the Greek word for '5', and "domino", a pentomino is a polyomino of order 5, that is, a polygon in the plane made of 5 equal-sized squares connected edge-to-edge. When rotations and reflections are not considered to be distinct shapes, there are 12 different free pentominoes. When reflections are considered distinct, there are 18 one-sided pentominoes. When rotations are also considered distinct, there are 63 fixed pentominoes.
In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal ; or a parallelogram containing a right angle. A rectangle with four sides of equal length is a square. The term oblong is occasionally used to refer to a non-square rectangle. A rectangle with vertices ABCD would be denoted as ABCD.
A polyomino is a plane geometric figure formed by joining one or more equal squares edge to edge. It is a polyform whose cells are squares. It may be regarded as a finite subset of the regular square tiling.
In Euclidean geometry, a kite is a quadrilateral whose four sides can be grouped into two pairs of equal-length sides that are adjacent to each other. In contrast, a parallelogram also has two pairs of equal-length sides, but they are opposite to each other instead of being adjacent. Kite quadrilaterals are named for the wind-blown, flying kites, which often have this shape and which are in turn named for a bird. Kites are also known as deltoids, but the word "deltoid" may also refer to a deltoid curve, an unrelated geometric object.
A polyiamond is a polyform whose base form is an equilateral triangle. The word polyiamond is a back-formation from diamond, because this word is often used to describe the shape of a pair of equilateral triangles placed base to base, and the initial 'di-' looks like a Greek prefix meaning 'two-'. The name was suggested by recreational mathematics writer Thomas H. O'Beirne in New Scientist 1961 number 1, page 164.
A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of geometries.
A hexomino is a polyomino of order 6, that is, a polygon in the plane made of 6 equal-sized squares connected edge-to-edge. The name of this type of figure is formed with the prefix hex(a)-. When rotations and reflections are not considered to be distinct shapes, there are 35 different free hexominoes. When reflections are considered distinct, there are 60 one-sided hexominoes. When rotations are also considered distinct, there are 216 fixed hexominoes.
In recreational mathematics, a polyhex is a polyform with a regular hexagon as the base form, constructed by joining together 1 or more hexagons. Specific forms are named by their number of hexagons: monohex, dihex, trihex, tetrahex, etc. They were named by David Klarner who investigated them.
A heptomino is a polyomino of order 7, that is, a polygon in the plane made of 7 equal-sized squares connected edge-to-edge. The name of this type of figure is formed with the prefix hept(a)-. When rotations and reflections are not considered to be distinct shapes, there are 108 different free heptominoes. When reflections are considered distinct, there are 196 one-sided heptominoes. When rotations are also considered distinct, there are 760 fixed heptominoes.
A nonomino is a polyomino of order 9, that is, a polygon in the plane made of 9 equal-sized squares connected edge-to-edge. The name of this type of figure is formed with the prefix non(a)-. When rotations and reflections are not considered to be distinct shapes, there are 1,285 different free nonominoes. When reflections are considered distinct, there are 2,500 one-sided nonominoes. When rotations are also considered distinct, there are 9,910 fixed nonominoes.
In geometry, the truncated hexagonal tiling is a semiregular tiling of the Euclidean plane. There are 2 dodecagons (12-sides) and one triangle on each vertex.
In geometry, the rhombitrihexagonal tiling is a semiregular tiling of the Euclidean plane. There are one triangle, two squares, and one hexagon on each vertex. It has Schläfli symbol of rr{3,6}.
An octomino is a polyomino of order 8, that is, a polygon in the plane made of 8 equal-sized squares connected edge-to-edge. When rotations and reflections are not considered to be distinct shapes, there are 369 different free octominoes. When reflections are considered distinct, there are 704 one-sided octominoes. When rotations are also considered distinct, there are 2,725 fixed octominoes.
In mathematics, a domino is a polyomino of order 2, that is, a polygon in the plane made of two equal-sized squares connected edge-to-edge. When rotations and reflections are not considered to be distinct shapes, there is only one free domino.
A pseudo-polyomino, also called a polyking, polyplet or hinged polyomino, is a plane geometric figure formed by joining one or more equal squares edge-to-edge or corner-to-corner at 90°. It is a polyform with square cells. The polyominoes are a subset of the polykings.
In the geometry of tessellations, a rep-tile or reptile is a shape that can be dissected into smaller copies of the same shape. The term was coined as a pun on animal reptiles by recreational mathematician Solomon W. Golomb and popularized by Martin Gardner in his "Mathematical Games" column in the May 1963 issue of Scientific American. In 2012 a generalization of rep-tiles called self-tiling tile sets was introduced by Lee Sallows in Mathematics Magazine.
In geometry, the order-3 snub octagonal tiling is a semiregular tiling of the hyperbolic plane. There are four triangles, one octagon on each vertex. It has Schläfli symbol of sr{8,3}.
In geometry, the rhombitrioctagonal tiling is a semiregular tiling of the hyperbolic plane. At each vertex of the tiling there is one triangle and one octagon, alternating between two squares. The tiling has Schläfli symbol rr{8,3}. It can be seen as constructed as a rectified trioctagonal tiling, r{8,3}, as well as an expanded octagonal tiling or expanded order-8 triangular tiling.
In geometry, the rhombtriapeirogonal tiling is a uniform tiling of the hyperbolic plane with a Schläfli symbol of rr{∞,3}.
Polyominoes: Puzzles, Patterns, Problems, and Packings is a mathematics book on polyominoes, the shapes formed by connecting some number of unit squares edge-to-edge. It was written by Solomon Golomb, and is "universally regarded as a classic in recreational mathematics". The Basic Library List Committee of the Mathematical Association of America has strongly recommended its inclusion in undergraduate mathematics libraries.
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Polyabolo . |
| Polyominoes | |
|---|---|
| Higher dimensions | |
| Others | |
| Games and puzzles | |
