this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2026
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Image by Cmglee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A square can tile a plane but can form a repeating pattern. Is there a single shape that can tile but never repeats? That's what's called the "einstein problem".

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In 2010, the first never-repeating tile was discovered: the Socolar-Taylor tile. But it's a bit weird, having several separated, disconnected bits.

In 2022, "The Hat" (shown in pic) was discovered, and it's a lot less weird. It only has 13 sides and nice angles that are multiples of 30°.

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[–] imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I wonder if there's a way to apply this pattern to create some specific kind of cellular automaton.

Honestly idk enough about this stuff to even know if that's a dumb question, but at the very least, the image reminded me of that.