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Proof. Let a 1 ,a 2 ,...,a n
be the side-lengths of P that are linearly independent
over
. Suppose that a set of k triangles tiles P , and let b 1 ,b 2 ,...,b 3 k be the
side-lengths of the k triangles. Each a i can be represented as a linear combination
of b 1 ,...,b 3 k with integral coecients. Since a 1 ,...,a n are linearly independent
over
Q
Q
,wemusthave3 k
n , and hence k
n/ 3.
Corollary 2.1. For any integer n> 0 , there is a polygon P with e ( P )
n .
Exa m p le 2 .1 . The simplicial element number of a quadrilateral with sides
1 , 2 , 3 , 5 is 2 .
The following theorem is proved by Laczkovich [ 8 , Theorems 3.3, 3.6].
Theorem 2.2 (Laczkovich 2012).
b if and only if T is a right triangle
in which the ratio of perpendicular sides is a rational multiple of a/b or b/a .
(ii) A triangle T can generate an equilateral triangle if and only if one of the
following holds.
- T is
(i) A triangle T can generate a rectangle a
×
( 6 , 3 , 2 ) .
( 6 , 6 , 2 3 ) .
- The ratios of sides of T are all rationals, and one angle of T is ˀ/ 3 or
2 ˀ/ 3 .
- T is
Example 2.2. If the side-lengths of T are 7 , 8 , 13 (in this case, the largest angle
of T becomes 2 ˀ/ 3), then the equilateral triangle of side 11760 can be dissected
into 2469600 triangles each congruent to T , see Laczkovich [ 7 ] p.86.
Let us state a well-known fact (see Appendix D of Niven [ 10 ]) as a lemma for
later use.
Lemma 2.1. Let ʱ be an acute angle of a triangle. If cos ʱ
Q
, then either
ʱ/ˀ is irrational or ʱ = ˀ/ 3 .If tan ʱ
Q
, then either ʱ/ˀ is irrational or
ʱ = ˀ/ 4 .
From Theorem 2.2, we have the following.
Theorem 2.3. (i) For any n> 3 ,n
=6 , an equilateral triangle and a regular n -
gon are independent. (ii) A square and any other regular polygon are independent.
Proof. (i) First, note that the interior angle of a regular n -gon is ( n
2) ˀ/n .
Let T be a triangle that generates an equilateral triangle. We use Theorem 2.2
(ii). If T is
( 6 , 6 , 2 3 )or
( 6 , 3 , 2 ), then, except the cases n =4 , 6 , 12, no
angle ( n
2) ˀ/n can be constructed as a linear combination of the angles of T
with nonnegative integral coecients. By Theorem 2.2 (i), T cannot generate
{
( 6 , 3 , 2 ) generates
( 6 , 6 , 2 3 ), we
4
}
. Suppose that T generates
{
12
}
. Since
may suppose that T is a triangle with sides 1 , 3 , 2 (which is a
( 6 , 3 , 2 )) and
T tiles a re g ular 12-gon P . The side-length s of P can be then represented as
s = a + b 3 (where a, b are nonnegative integers), and the area of P is
 
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