Most building floors nowadays are covered with tiles.  The most common shapes used in tiling are squares and rectangles — well technically speaking, a square is a rectangle.

A square is a regular polygon or a polygon whose side lengths are the same. Aside from squares, the only regular polygons that could be used in tiling  are equilateral triangles and regular hexagons. However, other regular polygons maybe used in tiling when combined with other shapes (e.g. a square and a regular octagon).

Notice that the three polygons above have two properties in common. First, the measure of their interior angles are the same (square, 90˚; triangle, 60˚; hexagon,  120˚), and, second, the measures of the angle when added a number of times results to 360˚. This is the reason why these polygons are best to use in tiling: we can be sure that there are no gaps or overlaps.

The mathematical properties of regular polygons are not only recognized by humans but by nature as well. The bees form their honeycombs in hexagonal shape to maximize space.

The discussion above shows that mathematics is not only found in books and classrooms. They are also found everywhere, and we are not the only beings who recognize their benefits and beauty.