ancient patterns

The new study, published Friday in the journal Science, offers a window into a time when Islamic scholars were centuries ahead of their European counterparts and used their mathematical prowess to convey the holy in art.researchers at Harvard and Princeton Universities found in tile decorations on a shrine and mosque dating from the 15th Century. The designs are quasi-crystalline, meaning they are predictable but do not regularly repeat themselves. They match a convoluted tiling pattern discovered in recent times by the mathematical physicist Roger Penrose, best known for his work on relativity theory.