Tilings of parallelograms by similar isosceles triangles (Q517892)

This paper extends the previous work of Laczkovich and Su et. al. on tilings of parallelograms by triangles, using the convention of Laczkovich to say that a triangle \(\Delta\) \textit{tiles} a polygon \(P\) if \(P\) can be decomposed into finitely many non-overlapping triangles that are similar to \(\Delta\) [\textit{M. Laczkovich}, Combinatorica 10, No. 3, 281--306 (1990; Zbl 0721.52013)], [\textit{Z. Su} et al., Discrete Comput. Geom. 50, No. 2, 469--473 (2013; Zbl 1276.52021)]. Denoting the set of triangles that tile (in the above sense) a given polygon \(P\) by \(\mathcal{S}(P)\) (the \textit{triangular quasispectrum of \(P\)}), several results about \(\mathcal{S}(P)\) are known, in particular the cases where \(P\) is either triangular or rectangular. In this paper, the author turns to the case of a nonrectangular parallelogram \(P(\delta)\) with acute angle \(\delta\) and restricts the analysis to tilings by isosceles triangles. Following Laczkovich, the author addresses the quasispectrum problem in two steps: in the first, he develops a system of inequalities that allows for restricting the possibilities for angle triples \((\alpha, \alpha, \beta)\) for a tiling isosceles triangle \(\Delta\); in the second, he constructs the valid tilings so found. After introducing the notion of a \textit{vertex pattern} \((p,q)\) for a tiling, which is the integer description of the combinatorics at each vertex of the triangulation, the cases of acute and obtuse triangular tilings of \(P(\delta)\) are, for the most part, classified. In particular, if the isosceles triangle \(\Delta\) with angles \(\alpha, \alpha,\) and \(\beta\) tiles \(P(\delta)\), then if \(\delta \neq \alpha\), we have \(\delta = \beta\) or \(\delta = 2\alpha\) depending on whether \(\Delta\) is acute or obtuse, respectively. Furthermore, all vertex patterns in any tiling are found, except in the cases when \(\beta \in \{\pi/5, 3\pi/7, 3\pi/5 \}\). The paper concludes with an intriguing batch of related, open questions.