Tilings of Polygons with Similar Triangles, II

Let A be a polygon, and let s (A) denote the number of distinct nonsimilar triangles Δ such that A can be dissected into finitely many triangles similar to Δ . If A can be decomposed into finitely many similar symmetric trapezoids, then s(A)=∞ . This implies that if A is a regular polygon, then s(A)=∞ . In the other direction, we show that if s(A)=∞ , then A can be decomposed into finitely many symmetric trapezoids with the same angles. We introduce the following classification of tilings: a tiling is regular if Δ has two angles, α and β , such that at each vertex of the tiling the number of angles α is the same as that of β . Otherwise the tiling is irregular. We prove that for every polygon A the number of triangles that tile A irregularly is at most c ⋅ n ⁶ , where n is the number of vertices of A. If A has a regular tiling, then A can be decomposed into finitely many symmetric trapezoids with the same angles. 26 June, 1998 Editors-in-Chief: &lsilt;a href=../edboard.html#chiefs&lsigt;Jacob E. Goodman, Richard Pollack&lsilt;/a&lsigt; 19n3p411.pdf yes no no yes Received February 17, 1997, and in revised form June 16, 1997.