Tessellations

Transformations ( translations, reflections, rotations and glide reflections)

What Is a Tessellation?
A shape or tile that repeats to fill a surface without any gaps or overlaps. The name comes from the word tessella, the small square tile used in ancient Roman mosaics.

What is a tessellation?
Formal definition: A careful juxtaposition of elements into a coherent pattern sometimes called a mosaic or tiling. Simply put: A tessellation is like a puzzle that repeats a particular pattern.

For example:

In nature and life, they appear often:

Honeycombs...

Mud flats...

In games, like checkers..

Translation Reflections Rotations Glide reflections

 A translations slides everything a fixed direction. So in order to completely specify a translations we need to state its directions and the distance through which each point moves

Example

> firstly we draw a shape as diagram above

> then we translate the shape to [5,0] > we translate x and y

>after we translate at first row, we translate at second row >we use [0,-4] to translate the shape

>after that, we continued the translate until the shape shown as below

 Reflections are flips of images. Images are flipped over lines of reflections. If a figure can be reflected over a line so that its image matches the original figure, the figure has reflectional symmetry.

Example

j line of reflection

First we do the object like the picture above, then we do the line of reflection the bottom of the shape.

l ine of refl ecti on 1

l ine of refl ecti on 2

After we do the first reflection, we do another line of reflection which is line of reflection 2

l ine of re fl ect 1

l ine of re fl ect 3

l ine of re fl ect 2

After we get the shape like X, again we do the line of reflect which is line of reflect 3 at the bottom of the X shape

l ine of re fl ect 4

l ine of re fl ect 1

l ine of re fl ect 3

l ine of re fl ect 2

We do the same thing to the upper of the shape which line of reflect 4.

We repeat again the process until we get the reflection shape like the above and we make some coloring to this tessellation to get the best result.

 A rotation is a transformation that turns a figure about a fixed point called the center of rotation. If a figure can be rotated 180 degrees or less so that its image matches the original figure, then the figure has rotational symmetry.

EXAMPLE
First step:
1) Draw 3 polygons. 1) Make a point as a center of rotations of polygons. 2) Rotate the polygons by 60o anti-clockwise.

Cen ter of rotati o ns

Second step: 1) Draw the image after rotation. 1) Continue the rotations 60o anti-clockwise on the centre of rotation until produce the complete rotation tessellations.

Cen ter of rotati on s

After rotations: 1) This is the image after all rotations.

 A glide reflections is a combination of a translation in a given directions and a reflection in a line parallel to the direction.

Example
First we make the shape like triangle.

Then we make a reflection by the line below the triangle shape.

 After that we make another line of reflection across the first line of reflection.

To make a complete shape, we do another reflection by doing the same procedures in the opposite side. The shape will be like a star.

 To make a beautiful tessellation, we do another process of glide which is translation. We do the same translation in all ways which is 3.4 44.0 until it produce a beautiful result.
* note: the ways of translation will influence translation values.