Penrose stairs, computer artwork. This is an impossible figure created by the physicist Roger Penrose and used by M C Escher in his illustration Ascen

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Penrose stairs, computer artwork. This is an impossible figure created by the physicist Roger Penrose and used by M C Escher in his illustration Ascending and Descending . The staircase loops back to join itself whilst still appearing to have steps of the same size throughout, all going in one vertical direction. This is an example of an object that can be drawn but not created.

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Size: 3452px × 2589px
Photo credit: © CLAUS LUNAU/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: ambiguity, ambiguous, artwork, black, black--white, complex, escher, figure, illusion, illusory, illustration, impossible, mathematical, mathematics, maths, monochrome, object, optical, penrose, perception, psychology, staircase, stairs, stairway, step, steps, trick, trickery, vision, visual, white