WThe Ben Day process, named after illustrator and printer Benjamin Henry Day Jr. is a printing and photoengraving technique dating from 1879. While the Ben Day process is commonly described in terms of dots, other shapes may be used, such as parallel lines, textures, irregular effects or waved lines.
WThe five dots tattoo is a tattoo of five dots arranged in a quincunx, usually on the outer surface of the hand, between the thumb and the index finger. The tattoo has different meanings in different cultures—it has been variously interpreted as a fertility symbol, a reminder of sayings on how to treat women or police, a recognition symbol among the Romani people, a group of close friends, standing alone in the world, or time spent in prison. Thomas Edison had this pattern tattooed on his forearm. The five dots tattoo is also most prevalent amongst gangsters. For example, in northern California it is a tattoo that symbolizes the membership of the "15 Street Locos", a juvenile institution gang, created and founded in Monterey County, CA and later spread across the county streets. In the US, it is also believed to have spread from Vietnamese gangs, who use it to mean, "A group of friends".
WThe 16 geomantic figures are the primary symbols used in divinatory geomancy. Each geomantic figure represents a certain formed state of the world or the mind and can be interpreted in various ways based upon the query put forth and the method used to generate the figures. When geomancy was introduced to Europe in the Middle Ages, the figures acquired astrological meanings and new forms of interpretation. The figures bear superficial resemblance to the ba gua, the eight trigrams used in the I Ching, a Chinese classic text.
WHalftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous-tone imagery through the use of dots, varying either in size or in spacing, thus generating a gradient-like effect. "Halftone" can also be used to refer specifically to the image that is produced by this process.
WIn discrete geometry, the original orchard-planting problem asks for the maximum number of 3-point lines attainable by a configuration of a specific number of points in the plane. It is also called the tree-planting problem or simply the orchard problem. There are also investigations into how many k-point lines there can be. Hallard T. Croft and Paul Erdős proved tk > c n2 / k3, where n is the number of points and tk is the number of k-point lines. Their construction contains some m-point lines, where m > k. One can also ask the question if these are not allowed.
WPolka dot is a pattern consisting of an array of large filled circles of the same size.
WPolka dot paint is a paint of "polka dot color", i.e., a paint which paints an object with a polka dot pattern.
WA quincunx is a geometric pattern consisting of five points arranged in a cross, with four of them forming a square or rectangle and a fifth at its center. It forms the arrangement of five units in the pattern corresponding to the five-spot on six-sided dice, playing cards, and dominoes. It is represented in Unicode as U+2059 ⁙ FIVE DOT PUNCTUATION or U+2684 ⚄ DIE FACE-5.
WScreentone is a technique for applying textures and shades to drawings, used as an alternative to hatching. In the conventional process, patterns are transferred to paper from preprinted sheets, but the technique is also simulated in computer graphics, notably in Flipnote Studio and Macpaint. It is also known by the common brand names Zip-A-Tone, Chart-Pak (1949), and Letratone.
WThe tetractys, or tetrad, or the tetractys of the decad is a triangular figure consisting of ten points arranged in four rows: one, two, three, and four points in each row, which is the geometrical representation of the fourth triangular number. As a mystical symbol, it was very important to the secret worship of Pythagoreanism. There were four seasons, and the number was also associated with planetary motions and music.