Recently, a team of researchers discovered a new kind of tile which can be used to cover a surface without gaps. It has the special property that it produces tilings which never repeat - any tiling made using this shape can never be moved across or down and match up with itself. Called the 'Hat Tile', this shape was discovered by British maths enthusiast David Smith, and written up as a research paper jointly with three other mathematicians, who proved it worked, and developed ways to build non-repeating tilings out of smaller sections of tiling.
One of these mathematicians - Chaim Goodman-Strauss, as well as Stand-up Mathematician Matt Parker, will be joining David to build a section of the tiling in Newcastle City library, and you can join in too! See how the pieces fit together, and help us produce a mathematical piece of art.
We'll be taking over part of Bewick Hall (just inside the entrance off Princess Square) from 10.30am to 12.30pm on Saturday 2nd September - join us and see our artwork grow, or get involved in building it!
A tiling built at Oxford University's Hatfest event in 2023