[HN Gopher] Infinite tiling pattern could end a 60-year mathemat...
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       Infinite tiling pattern could end a 60-year mathematical quest
        
       Author : pseudolus
       Score  : 50 points
       Date   : 2023-06-02 12:32 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nature.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nature.com)
        
       | headalgorithm wrote:
       | Some recent and related discussions:
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36119920
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36056488
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35273707
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35264965
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35242458
        
         | Solvency wrote:
         | For real, generally curious why this little tile keeps being
         | posted here.
        
           | throw_pm23 wrote:
           | A rare case of cutting edge math research, but understandable
           | to the general public, at least in its results.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | gliptic wrote:
           | Only the first link refers to this, the others are the
           | previous "hat" tile.
        
       | foobarbecue wrote:
       | So the polygon hat from a few weeks ago only worked as an
       | aperiodic tile if you were allowed to tile it with a flipped
       | version? I wasn't aware of that caveat at the time. I guess that
       | sort of detail doesn't make it into the popular press.
        
         | ColinWright wrote:
         | The cool thing is that the ratio of flipped to non-flipped is
         | p^4, where p is the golden ratio: (1+sqrt(5))/2
        
       | IanCal wrote:
       | Is it that the shape _can_ be tiled so it doesn 't repeat a
       | pattern or can you only tile it like that?
        
         | enriquto wrote:
         | It must be the latter. Many trivial shapes admit non-periodic
         | tilings. For example a 2x1 rectangle: you tile the plane with
         | squares, and divide each square in two in a non-periodic way.
        
           | mabbo wrote:
           | > and divide each square in two in a non-periodic way.
           | 
           | That doesn't actually sound simple. Can you provide an
           | example of how you would do that?
        
             | enriquto wrote:
             | You traverse the squares in a spiral pattern starting from
             | a central one. Then each square is divided vertically or
             | horizontally according to the binary digits of pi (or
             | whatever).
        
               | zuminator wrote:
               | It doesn't even need to be (pseudo-) random. You can
               | trace a spiral pattern out from the origin like so: 1
               | vertical up, turn right, 1 horizontal right, turn down, 2
               | vertical down, turn left, 2 horizontal left, turn up, 3
               | vertical up, turn right, 3 horizontal right, turn down,
               | etc. The resulting spiral pattern will never repeat.
        
             | BurningFrog wrote:
             | For each 2x2 block, decide randomly/arbitrarily to split it
             | horizontally or vertically.
        
               | cvoss wrote:
               | This solution won't be accepted without a lot more work.
               | Flipping a coin is not guaranteed to produce an aperiodic
               | tiling, since, in the trivial case where the coin comes
               | up heads indefinitely, you'll be producing a periodic
               | tiling. (You will argue it's not likely to do this, and
               | I'd agree. In fact, I'd conjecture you'll only produce a
               | periodic tiling with measure zero probability.) But
               | what's required is to actually show an aperiodic tiling.
               | If you have a proof that coin flipping will produce such
               | a tiling with non-vanishing probability, then,
               | presumably, embedded in your proof, you will likely find
               | a decision procedure for producing an aperiodic tiling
               | deterministically.
        
           | IanCal wrote:
           | That makes sense but now I'm more confused about Penrose
           | tilings. My understanding was that there were rules about
           | placement to avoid periodic tilings.
           | 
           | Thinking out loud, is this down to local Vs global rules?
           | Otherwise I'm a bit confused as to why Penrose tiles were a
           | big deal.
           | 
           | To be clear, I'm fully aware the confusion is because I'm
           | missing something.
        
         | firstlink wrote:
         | An aperiodic tile (a) admits a tiling (b) does not admit a
         | periodic tiling.
        
       | cypherpunks01 wrote:
       | Does an aperiodic tiling mean that if you take the entire
       | infinite tiled plane, and while sliding around a copy of the
       | plane, there are zero other places you can slide it to that
       | matches the original?
       | 
       | I'm just a bit confused by the opt-repeated claim that the tiling
       | "never repeats itself" and I'm not sure if I'm understanding the
       | brief translational symmetry explanation correctly.
        
         | iamgopal wrote:
         | My question is, It repeats aperiodically and predictably, like
         | a Fibonacci ? Or aperiodically and unpredictably ? Like a prime
         | numbers ?
        
           | ndsipa_pomu wrote:
           | It'll be predictable. Other aperiodic tilings (e.g. Penrose
           | tiles) look to have regular patterns from a quick glance, but
           | those patterns won't have translational symmetry despite
           | looking vaguely symmetrical.
        
           | fanf2 wrote:
           | The proof that the tiling is aperiodic comes with a recursive
           | algorithm for generating tilings.
        
         | IIAOPSW wrote:
         | Yeah. Its like an irrational number but in 2d.
        
         | mrfox321 wrote:
         | Yes, that's the definition of aperiodic tiling.
         | 
         | There is no translational symmetry.
        
           | jameshart wrote:
           | no _sliding_ symmetry - you can combine translation and
           | rotation, and you won 't find a match.
        
             | amluto wrote:
             | There could be a (finite) rotational symmetry. The Penrose
             | tilings, for example, have a five-fold rotational symmetry.
        
         | gilleain wrote:
         | Yes, exactly.
         | 
         | Also this video:
         | 
         | https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IfVwelta1fE
         | 
         | Helped me understand an example of a monotile that _can_ tile
         | aperiodically but also has a periodic tiling.
        
           | Glyptodon wrote:
           | If that's the case, does it have practical near repeats as
           | the difference in rotation between an selected origin tile
           | and another tile somewhere across infinity becomes bound to
           | approach zero? I'd have guessed that with only 360 degrees of
           | rotation at very large numbers you'd be bound to get a tile
           | that has nearly the same rotation if not the same rotation as
           | another tile. I'd have guessed that for a single tile
           | aperiodic tiling there'd be a 2nd non
           | rotational/translational requirement: that the if rotation is
           | the same, the adjoining tiles of every case of the same
           | rotation would not be the same, but that seems like it'd
           | require infinite positions for two adjacent tiles to
           | interlock, which also seems like at some point would mean two
           | non identical positions are functionally identical for
           | practical purposes unless the shape allows for infinite
           | permutations of adjacency to a single tile that aren't
           | effectively just the same at limit. Very curious about how
           | I'm understanding or not understanding this . Do you get
           | large subsheets as it extends to infinity that differ
           | distinctly from other subsheets by single tiles, with some
           | kind of corellary that subsheets can repeat but there is no
           | subsheet that con cover the plane in totality besides the
           | whole itself?
        
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