The patterns on the Islamic buildings reminded him of Penrose tiles, which are two simple geometric shapes, usually a kite and a dart or a fat and a skinny rhombus (diamond).

The tiles are very simple and can be constructed using a compass and straight edge. After the tiles have been made, arbitrarily complicated patterns can be generated very rapidly by replicating ...

The swirling Arabesque ceramic tiles used in medieval Islamic mosaics and architecture were produced using geometry not understood in the West until the 1970s. Skip to main content.

The wondrously intricate tile mosaics that adorn medieval Islamic architecture may cloak a mastery of geometry not matched in the West for hundreds of years, researchers say.