Editing Tile (section)

== Mathematics of tiling ==
[[File:Tassellatura alhambra.jpg|thumb|250px|The elaborate and colourful [[zellige]] tessellations of glazed tiles at the [[Alhambra]] in Spain that attracted the attention of [[M. C. Escher]]]]
Certain shapes of tiles, most obviously [[rectangle]]s, can be replicated to cover a surface with no gaps. These shapes are said to ''[[Tessellation|tessellate]]'' (from the [[Latin]] ''tessella'', 'tile') and such a tiling is called a [[tessellation]]. Geometric patterns of some Islamic polychrome decorative tilings are rather complicated (see [[Islamic geometric patterns]] and, in particular, [[Girih tiles]]), even up to supposedly quasiperiodic ones, similar to [[Penrose tiling#Penrose tilings and art|Penrose tilings]].