Dissection of a triangle into similar triangles
For \(n\geq 2\), let \(f(n)\) be the number of triangles that can be dissected into \(n\) similar nonright triangles, and let \(g(n)\) be the number of nonsimilar nonright triangles \(T\) that can be dissected into \(n\) parts similar to \(T\). It follows from an example of \textit{H. Kaiser} [Elem. Math. 46, 106--111 (1991; Zbl 0744.05004)] that \(f(n)=g(n)=\infty\) for \(n=4\) and \(n\geq 6\). The remaining values are evaluated: \(f(2)=g(2)=0\), \(f(3)=1\), \(g(3)=0\), \(f(5)=9\), and \(g(5)=1\). A dissection is perfect if all the tiles are pairwise incongruent. It is shown that the least \(n\) such that a triangle has a perfect dissection into \(n\) nonright similar triangles is \(5\), with only two triangles attaining this bound. Also, the least \(n\) such that a nonright triangle \(T\) has a perfect dissection into \(n\) triangles similar to \(T\) is \(6\). A dissection of a triangle \(T\) into triangles all similar to \(\Delta\) is prime if no proper subset containing at least two triangles form a triangle similar to \(\Delta\). A dissection is simplicial if the intersection of two triangles is either empty, a common vertex, or a common edge. It is shown that in any perfect, prime, and simplicial dissection of \(T\) into at least three triangles similar to \(\Delta\), there are only three possibilities for \(\Delta\) up to similarity. The proofs use a graph theoretical analysis together with elementary geometry.
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