From the walls of the Alhambra to the floors of Winchester Cathedral, virtually every culture uses repeated shapes for decorative purposes. Mathematical interest in these patterns, called tessellations, dates back six millennia. But did you know new tessellations are being discovered all the time? Together, we’ll explore recent developments in the century-old quest to find all 5-sided tiles satisfying a certain feature. In addition, we’ll marvel at a pattern discovered in 2023 that goes on forever and never repeats.
Featured Speaker:
Dr. Alissa Crans
Professor of Mathematics at Loyola Marymount University
Dr. Crans’ interests are in algebra, particularly in higher dimensional Lie algebras and their relationships with topology as well as relationships between mathematics and music, and broadening participation in mathematics. Dr. Crans received her Ph.D. and M.S. from UC Riverside in 2004 and 2000, respectively, and her B.S. degree from the University of Redlands in 1999. She joined the LMU faculty in 2004.
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