Tilings of the sphere by congruent pentagons. I: Edge combinations \(a^2b^2c\) and \(a^3 bc \) (Q2064456)

The authors study edge-to-edge tilings of the two-dimensional sphere by congruent images of some spherical pentagon \(P\). It is shown that the lengths of the consecutive edges of such \(P\) must be one of \(a-a-b-b-c\) (called edge combination \(a^2b^2c\)), \(a-a-a-b-c\) (called \(a^3bc\)), \(a-a-a-b-b\) (called \(a^3b^2\)), \(a-a-a-a-b\) (called \(a^4b\)) or \(a-a-a-a-a\) (called \(a^5\)) with distinct \(a,b,c\). The tilings with edge combinations \(a^2b^2c\) (three families with \(12\), \(24\) or \(60\) tiles) and \(a^3bc\) (two unique tilings with \(48\) or \(120\) tiles) are completely classified. For Part II, see [the authors, Adv. Math. 394, Article ID 107867, 68 p. (2022; Zbl 1484.52017)], for Part III, see [\textit{Y. Akama} and the authors, ibid. 384, Article ID 107881, 41 p. (2022; Zbl 1484.52014)].