Search
MAA Writing Awards
show printer friendly
send to a friend
Putting the Pieces Together: Understanding Robinson's Nonperiodic Tilings
Award: George Pólya
Year of Award: 1998
Publication Information: The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 28, No. 3, (1997), pp. 172-181
Summary: A discussion of Robinson's nonperiodic tilings and nonperiodic tilings with nonsquare tiles (Penrose and pinwheel).
About the Authors: (from The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 28, No. 3, (1997))
Aimee Johnson obtained her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1984 and her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1990. She is now part of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Swarthmore College. Her research interests are ergodic theory and symbolic dynamics. It is in the latter context that she and her coauthor came across the undecidability question for tilings that motivates this paper.
Kathleen Madden received her B.A. from the University of Colorado, and after two years teaching mathematics in Cameroon, West Africa, with the Peace Corps, she received her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. She is currently an assistant professor at Lafayette College where her research interests include topological and symbolic dynamics. In her free time, she likes hiking, biking, and generally just being outdoors.