Polyhex (mathematics)

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A tessellation of all 7 free tetrahexes Tetrahex-mixed-tiling.svg
A tessellation of all 7 free tetrahexes

In recreational mathematics, a polyhex is a polyform with a regular hexagon (or 'hex' for short) 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.

Contents

Each individual polyhex tile and tessellation polyhexes and can be drawn on a regular hexagonal tiling.

Construction rules

The rules for joining hexagons together may vary. Generally, however, the following rules apply:

  1. Two hexagons may be joined only along a common edge, and must share the entirety of that edge.
  2. No two hexagons may overlap.
  3. A polyhex must be connected. Configurations of disconnected basic polygons do not qualify as polyhexes.
  4. The mirror image of an asymmetric polyhex is not considered a distinct polyhex (polyhex are "double sided").

Tessellation properties

One example self-tiling with a pentahex Pentahex-tiling-cross.svg
One example self-tiling with a pentahex

All of the polyhexes with fewer than five hexagons can form at least one regular plane tiling.

In addition, the plane tilings of the dihex and straight polyhexes are invariant under 180 degrees rotation or reflection parallel or perpendicular to the long axis of the dihex (order 2 rotational and order 4 reflection symmetry), and the hexagon tiling and some other polyhexes (like the hexahex with one hole, below) are invariant under 60, 120 or 180 degree rotation (order 6 rotational and reflection symmetry).

In addition, the hexagon is a hexiamond, so all polyhexes are also distinct polyiamonds. Also, as an equilateral triangle is a hexagon and three smaller equilateral triangles it is possible to superimpose a large polyiamond on any polyhex, giving two polyiamonds corresponding to each polyhex. This is used as the basis of an infinite division of a hexagon into smaller and smaller hexagons (an irrep-tiling) or into hexagons and triangles.

Enumeration

With a fixed orientations, there are 3 distinct dihexes. Dihexes-fixed.svg
With a fixed orientations, there are 3 distinct dihexes.
The smallest chiral pair are tetrahexes, like this pair. 3 of 7 are two-sided. Tetrahex-pistols.svg
The smallest chiral pair are tetrahexes, like this pair. 3 of 7 are two-sided.
Polyhexes may have holes, like this hexahex. Cyclic-hexahex.svg
Polyhexes may have holes, like this hexahex.

As with polyominoes, polyhexes may be enumerated as free polyhexes (where rotations and reflections count as the same shape), fixed polyhexes (where different orientations count as distinct) and one-sided polyhexes (where mirror images count as distinct but rotations count as identical). They may also be distinguished according to whether they may contain holes. The number of free n-hexes for n = 1, 2, 3, … is 1, 1, 3, 7, 22, 82, 333, 1448, … (sequence A000228 in the OEIS ); the number of free polyhexes with holes is given by OEIS:  A038144 ; the number of free polyhexes without holes is given by OEIS:  A018190 ; the number of one-sided polyhexes is given by OEIS:  A006535 ; the number of fixed polyhexes is given by OEIS:  A001207 . [1] [2]

nFreeFree with holesFree without holesOne-sidedFixed
110111
210113
3303311
47071044
52202233186
682181147814
733323316203652
81448131435282116689
965726765051294277359
10304904043008660639362671

Symmetry

Of the polyhexes up to hexahexes, 2 have 6-fold rotation and reflection symmetry (thus also 3-fold and 2-fold symmetry), the monohex and the hexahex with a hole, 3 others have 3-fold rotation (the compact trihex, the propeller tetrahex and the hexahex looking like an equilateral triangle) and 3-fold reflection symmetry, 9 others have 2-fold rotation and reflection, 8 have just two fold rotation, 16 just have 2-fold reflection and the other 78 (most of the tetrahexes, pentahexes or hexahexes) are asymmetrical. The tilings of most of the reflection-symmetrical polyhexes are also invariant under glide reflections of the same order by the length of the polyhex.

Monohexes

There is one monohex. It tiles the plane as a regular hexagonal tiling.

Monocomb.svg

Dihexes

There is one free dihex:

Dicomb.svg

Trihexes

There are 3 free and two-sided trihexes:

Tricomb.svg

Tetrahexes

There are 7 free and two-sided tetrahexes. They are given names, in the order shown: bar, worm, pistol, propeller, arch, bee, and wave. [3]

Tetracomb.svg

Pentahexes

There are 22 free and two-sided pentahexes:

Pentacomb.svg

Hexahexes

There are 82 free and two-sided hexahexes:

Hexacomb.svg

See also

Related Research Articles

Cuboctahedron

A cuboctahedron is a polyhedron with 8 triangular faces and 6 square faces. A cuboctahedron has 12 identical vertices, with 2 triangles and 2 squares meeting at each, and 24 identical edges, each separating a triangle from a square. As such, it is a quasiregular polyhedron, i.e. an Archimedean solid that is not only vertex-transitive but also edge-transitive. It is the only radially equilateral convex polyhedron.

Polyomino

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.

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.

Tessellation Tiling of a plane in mathematics

A tessellation or tiling of a flat surface is the covering of a plane using one or more geometric shapes, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellations can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of geometries.

Wallpaper group Classification of a two-dimensional repetitive pattern

A wallpaper group is a mathematical classification of a two-dimensional repetitive pattern, based on the symmetries in the pattern. Such patterns occur frequently in architecture and decorative art, especially in textiles and tiles as well as wallpaper.

Dodecagon Polygon with 12 edges

In geometry, a dodecagon or 12-gon is any twelve-sided polygon.

Polydrafter

In recreational mathematics, a polydrafter is a polyform with a 30°–60°–90° right triangle as the base form. This triangle is also called a drafting triangle, hence the name. This triangle is also half of an equilateral triangle, and a polydrafter's cells must consist of halves of triangles in the triangular tiling of the plane; consequently, when two drafters share an edge that is the middle of their three edge lengths, they must be reflections rather than rotations of each other. Any contiguous subset of halves of triangles in this tiling is allowed, so unlike most polyforms, a polydrafter may have cells joined along unequal edges: a hypotenuse and a short leg.

Polyabolo

In recreational mathematics, a polyabolo 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.

Heptomino

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.

Nonomino

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.

Triangular tiling

In geometry, the triangular tiling or triangular tessellation is one of the three regular tilings of the Euclidean plane, and is the only such tiling where the constituent shapes are not parallelogons. Because the internal angle of the equilateral triangle is 60 degrees, six triangles at a point occupy a full 360 degrees. The triangular tiling has Schläfli symbol of {3,6}.

Truncated hexagonal tiling

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.

Truncated trihexagonal tiling

In geometry, the truncated trihexagonal tiling is one of eight semiregular tilings of the Euclidean plane. There are one square, one hexagon, and one dodecagon on each vertex. It has Schläfli symbol of tr{3,6}.

Rhombitrihexagonal tiling Semiregular tiling of the Euclidean plane

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}.

Snub trihexagonal tiling

In geometry, the snub hexagonal tiling is a semiregular tiling of the Euclidean plane. There are four triangles and one hexagon on each vertex. It has Schläfli symbol of sr{3,6}. The snub tetrahexagonal tiling is a related hyperbolic tiling with Schläfli symbol sr{4,6}.

Cubic honeycomb

The cubic honeycomb or cubic cellulation is the only proper regular space-filling tessellation in Euclidean 3-space, made up of cubic cells. It has 4 cubes around every edge, and 8 cubes around each vertex. Its vertex figure is a regular octahedron. It is a self-dual tessellation with Schläfli symbol {4,3,4}. John Horton Conway calls this honeycomb a cubille.

Octomino

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.

Octadecagon Polygon with 18 edges

In geometry, an octadecagon or 18-gon is an eighteen-sided polygon.

Rep-tile

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.

A decomino, or 10-omino, is a polyomino of order 10, that is, a polygon in the plane made of 10 equal-sized squares connected edge-to-edge. When rotations and reflections are not considered to be distinct shapes, there are 4,655 different free decominoes. When reflections are considered distinct, there are 9,189 one-sided decominoes. When rotations are also considered distinct, there are 36,446 fixed decominoes.

References

  1. Wolfram Mathworld: Polyhex
  2. Glenn C. Rhoads, Planar tilings by polyominoes, polyhexes, and polyiamonds, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics 174 (2005), No. 2, pp 329–353
  3. Gardner, M. Mathematical Magic Show: More Puzzles, Games, Diversions, Illusions and Other Mathematical Sleight-of-Mind from Scientific American. New York: Vintage, p. 147, 1978. PDF