muslims used to be so cool:
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By the 15th century, decorative tile patterns on these masterpieces of Islamic architecture reached such complexity that a small number boasted what seem to be "quasicrystalline" designs, Harvard University's Peter Lu and Princeton University's Paul Steinhardt wrote in the journal Science.
Only in the 1970s did British mathematician and cosmologist Roger Penrose become the first to describe these geometric designs in the West. Quasicrystalline patterns comprise a set of interlocking units whose pattern never repeats, even when extended infinitely in all directions, and possess a special form of symmetry.
more pictures featured Here.
"It is hard to picture," he says, "and it's hard for humans to process these patterns and interpret them."
Which raises the question of whether the medieval artists really understood the math behind their creation.
Some scientists are skeptical. Craig Kaplan, a computer scientist who studies star patterns made by Islamic architects, says that it has not yet been proven that medieval artisans understood the mathematics of their intricate designs.
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