Tile Pattern

Math teaching tool for generating quadratic tile patterns images from a pattern template. To be used alongside algebra tiles for students to make predictions and write algebraic equations.

Heroku Web App

Visit Heroku web app and try it yourself. (Note it may take a few seconds on intial launch to wake Heroku's dynos since it is a free account.)

Accepted Tile Placeholders:

• Unit(.)
• Linear(-, |)
• Quadratic(O)

[Currently can only align tiles along matching side lengths.]

Deploy Your Own Heroku App

• Make Heroku account and save authorizations
• Install terraform
• Create a secret key; provided for convenience is src/secret_key.py
• Run terraform init followed by terraform apply
• Click on output app_url and enjoy!

CLI Usage for Offline Usage

>>> python -m tileapp -h
usage: pattern [-h] [-bw] [-cm COLORMAP] [-o [DIR]] [-p PREFIX] [-v]
               infile dim [dim ...]

Tile pattern parser from txt to png

positional arguments:
  infile                filepath with pattern to parse
  dim                   dimensions to form pattern

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -a, --alpha           transparency of the colors used in png output; 
                        set to 0 for b/w png
  -cm COLORMAP, --colormap COLORMAP
                        colormap used to differentiate tile parts; see
                        https://matplotlib.org/tutorials/colors/colormaps.html
  -o [DIR], --outdir [DIR]
                        destination file for png output; if omitted, png is
                        popup; if not arg, save png to cwd
  -p PREFIX, --prefix PREFIX
                        prefix used for png output; use alongside outdir
  -v, --verbose         print to stdout the array used for png creation

>>> python -m pattern pat.txt 1 3 --alpha 0 --verbose --outdir
Pattern:
-...
O ||
Dim: 1
[[1 2 3 4]
 [5 0 6 7]]
Dim: 3
[[1 1 1 2 3 4]
 [5 5 5 0 6 7]
 [5 5 5 0 6 7]
 [5 5 5 0 6 7]]

>>> ls *.png
pat_dim1.png    pat_dim3.png