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One special feature of such tiles is that when you put them together they can't "slide" past another. Rectangular tiles can. So a floor covering made of these t

One special feature of such tiles is that when you put them together they can't "slide" past another. Rectangular tiles can. So a floor covering made of these titles is inherently more stable than rectangular tiles I would guess. Or let's say you make a roof-covering with these tiles. Once the tiles are together I believe you can pull the whole covering by grabbing it from one side and it will all follow, even if the titles are not glued together. That would not be the case with rectangular titles.

fnordpiglet 4y ago
But wouldn’t a simple interlock (like a puzzle piece) achieve the same result? I wonder if it is possible to use this to make self similar non repeating patterns (like say wood grains) without requiring more than N patterns, where N is some sufficiently high number and each tile pattern is designed to continue any side. I also wonder if instead of slippage it’s more like distribution of pressure or some other force related factor not concentrating in any area. I really wish they had explained the applications better it’s an interesting result.
- galaxyLogic 4y ago
  > But wouldn’t a simple interlock (like a puzzle piece) achieve the same result? Yes but puzzle pieces are of different shapes whereas now we have a "monotile". It is very simple to produce all the monotiles you will ever need because they are all of the same shape. Consider the economy of LEGOs if a single LEGO-shape was enough for everything. That would make LEGO pieces cheaper. Puzzle-pieces would also take considerable effort and expense to put together. There is a reason why puzzles are called, puzzles. With monotiles putting them together is trivial. Now I have no idea what practical applications actually are planned for monotiles in practice. But an invention is still an invention not because it does something that has never been done before, but because it can or may do it more economically, and can be a better solution for some specific situations.
  - fnordpiglet 4y ago
    I meant like this: https://3.imimg.com/data3/XO/BO/MY-1008764/oxford-tiles-500x500.jpg https://3.imimg.com/data3/XO/BO/MY-1008764/oxford-tiles-500x...
    - galaxyLogic 4y ago
      I see. Does that cover the whole plane with just a single shape?
      - fnordpiglet 4y ago
        Yep

fnordpiglet 4y ago

But wouldn’t a simple interlock (like a puzzle piece) achieve the same result? I wonder if it is possible to use this to make self similar non repeating patterns (like say wood grains) without requiring more than N patterns, where N is some sufficiently high number and each tile pattern is designed to continue any side. I also wonder if instead of slippage it’s more like distribution of pressure or some other force related factor not concentrating in any area. I really wish they had explained the applications better it’s an interesting result.

galaxyLogic 4y ago
> But wouldn’t a simple interlock (like a puzzle piece) achieve the same result? Yes but puzzle pieces are of different shapes whereas now we have a "monotile". It is very simple to produce all the monotiles you will ever need because they are all of the same shape. Consider the economy of LEGOs if a single LEGO-shape was enough for everything. That would make LEGO pieces cheaper. Puzzle-pieces would also take considerable effort and expense to put together. There is a reason why puzzles are called, puzzles. With monotiles putting them together is trivial. Now I have no idea what practical applications actually are planned for monotiles in practice. But an invention is still an invention not because it does something that has never been done before, but because it can or may do it more economically, and can be a better solution for some specific situations.
- fnordpiglet 4y ago
  I meant like this: https://3.imimg.com/data3/XO/BO/MY-1008764/oxford-tiles-500x500.jpg https://3.imimg.com/data3/XO/BO/MY-1008764/oxford-tiles-500x...
  - galaxyLogic 4y ago
    I see. Does that cover the whole plane with just a single shape?
    - fnordpiglet 4y ago
      Yep