Tilings of the square with similar rectangles

Combinatorial aspects of tessellation and tiling problems (05B45) Continued fractions (11A55) PV-numbers and generalizations; other special algebraic numbers; Mahler measure (11R06) Tilings in (2) dimensions (aspects of discrete geometry) (52C20)

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A square can be tiled by (finitely many) rectangles similar to a rectangle with sides of length 1 and \(u\) if and only if \(u\) is an algebraic number whose conjugates all have positive real part. In their proof, the authors use that these numbers \(u\) can also be characterized as follows: There are positive rational numbers \(c_ i\) such that the continued fraction \([c_ 0 u, c_ 1 u, \ldots, c_ n u]=1\). Obviously, the theorem also implies that, for the same numbers \(u\), a square can be tiled by triangles similar to a right triangle with small sides 1 and \(u\). However, this condition is not necessary. A necessary condition (which may be sufficient), namely, that all real conjugates of \(u\) are positive, was given by the first author in Combinatorica 10, No. 3, 281- 306 (1990; Zbl 0721.52013).

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