Skip to main content
4 of 6
added 2 characters in body
mathlove
  • 4.8k
  • 2
  • 19
  • 48

A special tessellation

Let $P$ be a convex $n$-gon. Suppose that we have an infinite number of $P$s, and that each of them is colored either red or blue. Here, let us consider the following operations :

Operation 1 : Place a red $P$ on a plane.

$\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ $enter image description here

Operation 2 : Place $n$ blue $P$s around the red $P$ such that each of the blue $P$s and the red $P$ are laid symmetrically with each $E_i\ (i=1,2,\cdots,n)$ where $E_i$ is an edge of the red $P$.

$\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ $enter image description here

Operation 3 : Place $n$ red $P$s around every blue $P$ in the same way as operation 2.

$\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ $enter image description here

Operation 4 : Place $n$ blue $P$s around every red $P$ in the same way as operation 2.

Operation 5 : Repeat operation 3 and 4.

Here, let us consider the following conditions :

Condition 1 : These $P$s are plane tessellation figures.

Condition 2 : There exists no place where both red $P$ and blue $P$ are placed.

Note that a regular hexagon, for example, does not satisfy the condition 2. See the figure below. The blue $P$ on which a letter $P$ is written, for example, will be colored red by the next operation.

$\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ $enter image description here

Then, here is the first question.

Question 1 : Is the following true?

$P$ satisfies these two conditions $\iff$ $P$ is either "a $45–45–90$ triangle", "a $30–60–90$ triangle", "an equilateral triangle" or "a rectangle".

I reached this conjecture by considering the inner angles of $P$. The followings are what I've thought : Every inner angle, say $\alpha$, of $P$ has to satisfy $2m\alpha=360^{\circ}$ where $m\ge 2\in\mathbb N$. Hence, $\alpha$ has to be any of the positive divisors of $180$ except $180$. This leads $n\le 4$ and so on.

Then, here is the second question.

Question 2 : Letting $P$ be a convex polyhedron, how about the three dimensional version of this question? Suppose that we consider the plane symmetry instead of the line symmetry.

In the two dimensional version, I think we can consider the inner angles of $P$. However, I don't have any good idea for the higher dimensional version. Can anyone help?

mathlove
  • 4.8k
  • 2
  • 19
  • 48