4 ms·

All depends how you define "the same". Mathematicians use "congruency" which allows mirror images.

• sandworm101 11y ago
  Ah. You learn something every day. I guess the guardian was therefore incorrect in their definition and should have said "congruent copies" ... but "copies" is also probably wrong. Congruent congruencies? >"If you can cover a flat surface using only identical copies of the same shape leaving neither gaps nor overlaps, then that shape is said to tile the plane."
  • ngneer 11y ago
    "Identical copies" is informal, as is "copies" for that matter. You can think of the information that is defining the shape as what is being copied, hence mirroring and other variations are allowed. A possibly related term to look into would be "isomorphism".
    • sandworm101 11y ago
      Is mirroring also allowed when 'filling' a 3d space?
      • goldenkey 11y ago
        Mirroring is allowed because in a higher dimension space, it is simply rotating the lower dimensional object by 180 degrees upon its own axis :-) Ie. an ant can't flip the hexagon you lay flat, but you can. Similarly, you cannot "flip" the 3d object you have in terms of chirality, but a 4d being can :-)