Editing Pentomino (section)

==History==
[[File:Pentomino Naming Conventions.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Comparison of labeling schemes for the 12 possible pentomino shapes. The first naming convention is the one used in this article. The second method is Conway's.]]
The earliest puzzle containing a complete set of pentominoes appeared in [[Henry Dudeney]]'s book, [[The Canterbury Puzzles]], published in 1907.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Canterbury Puzzles, by Henry Ernest Dudeney |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27635/27635-h/27635-h.htm#p74 |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref> The earliest tilings of rectangles with a complete set of pentominoes appeared in [[the Problemist]] Fairy Chess Supplement in 1935, and further tiling problems were explored in the PFCS, and its successor, the [[Fairy Chess Review]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dissection Problems in PFCS/FCR: Summary of Results in Date Order |url=https://www.mayhematics.com/d/db.htm |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=www.mayhematics.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/B-001-004-123/ |title=Hexaflexagons and other mathematical diversions |first=Martin |last=Gardner |author-link=Martin Gardner |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |date=1988 |chapter=13: Polyominoes |pages=124–140 |isbn=0-226-28254-6 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/B-001-004-123/page/n131/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|127}}

Pentominoes were formally defined by American professor [[Solomon W. Golomb]] starting in 1953 and later in his 1965 book ''[[Polyominoes: Puzzles, Patterns, Problems, and Packings]]''.<ref name=Harshbarger /><ref>{{cite web| url = http://people.rit.edu/mecsma/Professional/Puzzles/Pentominoes/P-Intro.html| title = people.rit.edu - Introduction - polyomino and pentomino}}</ref> They were introduced to the general public by [[Martin Gardner]] in his October 1965 [[Mathematical Games column]] in [[Scientific American]]. Golomb coined the term "pentomino" from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|πέντε}} / ''pénte'', "five", and the -omino of [[domino]], fancifully interpreting the "d-" of "domino" as if it were a form of the Greek prefix "di-" (two). Golomb named the 12 [[Free polyomino|''free'']] pentominoes after letters of the [[Latin alphabet]] that they resemble, using the [[mnemonic]] FILiPiNo along with the end of the alphabet (TUVWXYZ).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/polyominoes00golo/ |title=Polyominoes |first1=Solomon W. |last1=Golomb |author1-link=Solomon W. Golomb |first2=Warren |last2=Lushbaugh |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York |date=1965 |lccn=64-24805}}</ref>{{rp|23}}

[[John Horton Conway]] proposed an alternate labeling scheme for pentominoes, using O instead of I, Q instead of L, R instead of F, and S instead of N. The resemblance to the letters is more strained, especially for the O pentomino, but this scheme has the advantage of using 12 consecutive letters of the alphabet. It is used by convention in discussing [[Conway's Game of Life]], where, for example, one speaks of the R-pentomino instead of the F-pentomino.