Tilings of orthogonal polygons with similar rectangles or triangles (Q1767392)

An orthogonal polygon \(P\) is a (solid) polygon whose edges are horizontal or vertical. A (solid) polygon \(Q\) \textit{tiles} \(P\) if \(P\) can be represented as a union of finitely many non-overlapping similar copies of \(Q\). The authors prove the following results: (i) Let \(P\) be an orthogonal polygon with rational vertex coordinates and \(u>0\). Then \(P\) can be tiled by the rectangle \(R(u)\) with edge lengths \(1\), \(u\) if and only if \(u\) is algebraic and the real part of each of its conjugates is positive. (ii) If a triangle \(T\) tiles an orthogonal polygon \(P\), then either \(T\) is a right triangle or the angles of \(T\) are rational multiples of \(\pi\).