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    • Tessellations

    Tessellations

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    Mathematicians define “tessellate” as covering a plane with a pattern, and it is a concept that interests scientists and artists, as well as mathematicians. Join me for a fun tour.



    Tessellating Animation5 stars

    Japanese artist Makoto Nakamura has taken tessellations a step beyond the plane with his awesome animations. See his tessellated birds fly, his tessellated fish swim, and his tessellated dancers dance. Next, for the do-not-miss-it click of the day, visit Nakamura's Jigsaw Puzzles (look for the link at the bottom of the page.) Here you will have a chance to reassemble tessellated cats, pigeons, gorillas and more. Each interactive puzzle is unique and intriguing in its own way. I guarantee everyone in your family or classroom be clamoring for a turn. Having trouble? Try clicking the pieces to rotate them.

    What is a Tessellation?4 stars

    This Math Forum page is a great introduction to tessellations for those who know some geometry. It defines regular tessellations (those made up of polygons whose sides are of equal length), and shows how the interior angles of a regular tessellation must be an exact divisor of 360 degrees. Included are links to a lesson plan (for teachers and homeschoolers) and additional activity pages for students. You can experiment with shapes from this (or any other site) by copying them (use a right mouse click) to a paint program. Within the paint program, you can rotate and paste the shapes into tessellations of your own.



    Honorable Mentions

    The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!

    Symmetry and Tesselations

    Tessellations

    World of Escher


    Cite This Page

    Feldman, Barbara. "Tessellations." Surfnetkids. Feldman Publishing. 23 Jan. 2002. Web. 12 Dec. 2025. <https://www.surfnetkids.com/resources/tessellations/ >.


    About This Page

    By . Originally published January 23, 2002. Last modified September 29, 2015.

    Filed Under: Math, Math

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