Square trisection

The dissection of a square in three congruent partitions is a geometrical problem that dates back to the Islamic Golden Age.

Craftsman who mastered the art of zellige needed innovative techniques to achieve their fabulous mosaics with complex geometric figures.

The first solution to this problem was proposed in the 10th century AD by the Persian mathematician Abu'l-Wafa' (940-998) in his treatise "On the geometric constructions necessary for the artisan".

[2] This geometrical proof of Pythagoras' theorem would be rediscovered in the years 1835 - 1840 [3] by Henry Perigal and published in 1875.

Nowadays, new dissections are still found [9] (see illustration above) and the conjecture that 6 is the minimal number of necessary pieces remains unproved.