T Strips

Author : Gavin Theobald

The “T” of T strips stands for Trapezium. Trapeziums put end to end will not form a strip unless each alternate one is turned through 180 degrees first. So again we dissect a shape to form a strip element, but for T strips the need to invert alternate elements puts additional limitations on the strip element shape.

On the strips below we mark “anchor” points on the strips using small red dots. These are the points of reflection between successive strip elements. We also mark the intermediate points with blue dots. The use of these points will be explained later.

The equilateral triangle does not require dissection to form a strip. It will be seen that T strips frequently require fewer pieces to form them than do P strips. This is one of their advantages.

The square strip can be used as either a P strip or a T strip:

The simplest T strip for the pentagon is the following:

The following T strips for the pentagon are different from any we have seen yet. Unlike for all previous strips, the strip element does not extend across the whole strip.

Here are three different hexagon strips. The first two can also be used as P strips:

Here are two very similar strips for the heptagon:

The following octagon strips are very useful.

There are no simple T strips for the enneagon, but we will look into some very useful ones on a later page.

There is just one strip for the decagon.

There are no simple T strips for the dodecagon.

The following strips are for the pentagram. The first in particular is very useful:

Here are two hexagram strips:

There are no simple T strips for the {8/2} octagram.

We will look at a very useful strip for the {8/3} octagram on a later page.

There is a single T-strip for the {10/2} decagram. It has rather too many pieces, but is still useful but it would be nice to find a better version.

There are no simple T strips for the dodecagrams.

Here are two greek cross strips:

There are a few latin cross T strips. Here are the two most useful ones: