applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathemati ...

, a Gilbert tessellation. or random crack network. is a mathematical model for the formation of

mudcrack Mudcracks (also known as mud cracks, desiccation cracks or cracked mud) are sedimentary structures formed as muddy sediment dries and contracts.Jackson, J.A., 1997, ''Glossary of Geology'' (4th ed.), American Geological Institute, Alexandria, VA, ...

s, needle-like

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macro ...

s, and similar structures. It is named after

Edgar Gilbert Edgar Nelson Gilbert (July 25, 1923 – June 15, 2013) was an American mathematician and coding theorist, a longtime researcher at Bell Laboratories whose accomplishments include the Gilbert–Varshamov bound in coding theory, the Gilbert–Ell ...

, who studied this model in 1967.. In Gilbert's model, cracks begin to form at a set of points randomly spread throughout the plane according to a

Poisson distribution In probability theory and statistics, the Poisson distribution is a discrete probability distribution that expresses the probability of a given number of events occurring in a fixed interval of time or space if these events occur with a known co ...

. Then, each crack spreads in two opposite directions along a line through the initiation point, with the slope of the line chosen uniformly at random. The cracks continue spreading at uniform speed until they reach another crack, at which point they stop, forming a T-junction. The result is a

tessellation A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety o ...

of the plane by irregular

convex polygon In geometry, a convex polygon is a polygon that is the boundary of a convex set. This means that the line segment between two points of the polygon is contained in the union of the interior and the boundary of the polygon. In particular, it is a ...

s. A variant of the model that has also been studied restricts the orientations of the cracks to be axis-parallel, resulting in a random tessellation of the plane by rectangles... write that, in comparison to alternative models in which cracks may cross each other or in which cracks are formed one at a time rather than simultaneously, "most mudcrack patterns in nature topologically resemble" the Gilbert model.

References

{{Tessellation Tessellation