IVAN MOSCOVIC Item # 634826

PUZZLES/GAMES
Can. $14.95
$9.95

One of the greatest puzzle masters of all time,

Ivan Moscovich presents a collection
of diabolical problems of all types.
To solve these puzzles, you'll need to take your time and think carefully
about them. "Comprehension is at least
as important as visual perception
/X K X or mathematical knowledge,"
t ' \ advises Moscovich.
\ In Deviously Difficult Mind-
\ Bending Puzzles, you'll be
1 challenged with problems
1 that emphasize structure
/ and pattern rather than
/ numerical concepts and word
J / games. There are jigsaws,
/ magic squares, mazes, and
games to play with cut-out pieces.

^B
Sharpen your pencil and get

w
started on the tricky puzzles inside.
^

\,

/ Also available from Ivan Moscovich:

/ Fiendishly Frustrating Brain-Twisting Puzzles

ISBN l-4D27-lfllD-

78'\<*02»7-\8'\06i

Ne1
IVAN MOSCOVICH

Deviously
Difficult
Mind-Bending
Puzzles

Sterling Pill
 Deviously Difficult Mind-Bending Puzzles
Was commissioned, edited, designed, and produced by
Imagine Puzzles Ltd.,
20 Lochaline Street
London W6 9SH
United Kingdom

Managing director: Hal Robinson

Consultant editor: David Bodycombe
Editor: Alison Moore
Project manager: Tamiko Rex
Art editor: Beatriz Waller
Copy editor: Ruth Binney

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

2468 10 97531

Published by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016
by arrangement with Imagine Puzzles Ltd, London
Artwork and text © 2004 by Imagine Puzzles Ltd.
Distributed in Canada by Sterling Publishing
c/o Canadian Manda Group, 165 Dufferin Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6K 3H6
Distributed in Great Britain by Chrysalis Books Group PLC
The Chrysalis Building, Bramley Road, London W10 6SP, England
Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
P.O. Box 704, Windsor, NSW 2756, Australia

Printed in China
All rights reserved

Sterling ISBN 1-4027-1810-1

CONTENTS
Preface 4
Problem solving and creativity 5

Chapter 1
Get in line 8

Chapter 2
Triangles 18
Chapter 3
Getting from A to B 22
Chapter 4
Dissections 32

Chapter 5

Packing 'em in 40
Chapter 6
Jigsaws 46
Chapter 7
Magic squares 54
Chapter 8
Any which way 58
Chapter 9
Make your move 68

Chapter 10
Weird geometry 74
Chapter 11
Map madness so
Chapter 12
Mazes 86

Answers 88

CutOUtS 99
PREFACE
I have been designing and inventing puzzles, games, and toys
for the past 30 years or so. During that period I also
conceived and created a science museum with, among other
things, a planetarium. Today I devote all my time to the
creation of games and toys — and enjoy every moment of it.

Many of the games and puzzles in this book are completely original;
others are novel adaptations of more traditional games. My hope is that
this book will convey my enthusiasm for and fascination with games and
my approach to their creation and design. It combines entertainment
with an intellectual challenge, through which a great number of concepts
basic to art, science, and mathematics may be tackled.
This is an open-ended book; there are many opportunities for readers
to modify games in their own way, and to invent new variations. I hope
that this will cause a chain reaction: You will play the games, try to solve
the problems, and be stimulated to create your own rules and designs,
your own games, puzzles, and esthetically pleasing structures.
Despite the diversity of topics included here, there is an underlying
continuity in these puzzles: an interplay between geometry and
combinatorics (the different ways in which objects can be arranged). All
the games and puzzles are designed so that they can easily be made and
solved by the average enthusiast. They do not require special skills or
materials, most require only cardboard and paint. Some puzzles are best
solved through trial and error, so the Cut-outs section on pages 99-127
has pieces you can use for some of the puzzles. Color is important, and
the many colored illustrations depict examples not just of games, but of
the beautiful designs and patterns that arise out of them.
These are not just numerically inspired visual patterns. They can excite
the mind and suggest new ideas and insights, new modes of thought,
and creative expression. In fact, the creation of such compositions may
become for you an exciting activity in its own right.
The topics I have selected are biased toward visual geometrical
concepts, with a strong emphasis on structure and pattern, rather than
numerical concepts and word games. This bias is, of course, intended. I
have always been fascinated by the interaction of geometry and
combinatorics, two powerful disciplines that can lead to so many
surprising discoveries and complexities, all by taking a small number of
basic elements as building blocks and using them according to simple rules.
The book is designed so that each item stands alone (even
if it is in fact related to others), so you can dip in at will without the
frustration of cross-referencing. I hope you enjoy Deviously Difficult
Mind-Bending Puzzles as much as I have enjoyed creating it for you.

IVAN MOSCOVICH
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 5
PROBLEAA SOLVING AND CREATIVITY

Throughout this book you will be using

problem-solving skills and will, I hope,
learn a little about how your brain functions.
Thinking can be hard work; hence the natural
human tendency to do as little of it as
possible! This is visible in the hit-and-run
approach to problem solving: Pick the first
solution that comes to mind and run with it.
This way, our minds become trapped in their
own preconceptions.

In order to skirt around these conceptual

blocks we need to use creativity, which can
be thought of as consisting of three parts:

■ Innovation — It is impossible to be creative

if you merely adapt someone else's work.
The impossible domino
■ Added value — Creativity must have a bridge problem
practical use at some time. Sometimes this At first sight the structure above is impossible to
use may not be immediately apparent. build. But if you think about it the right way, you can
work out how to do it and even build it yourself!
■ Internal motivation — This is the will to
be curious and to go the extra mile to explore ANSWER page 88
something. In other words, do not just answer
a question but go on to set yourself your own
questions.

To get your brain in gear, try to stretch your

creativity with these warm-up puzzles.

The horse-and-rider problem

Using only your eyes, can you work
out how to mount the riders
on their horses?

ANSWER page 88
6 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
PROBLEAA SOLVING AND CREATIVITY

The circles-coloring problem

First, take a look at the figure below. Using Who was. ..Samuel Loyd?
the same logic, color the figure underneath it. He was born in Philadelphia in 1841,
and was America's equivalent of
ANSWER page 88 ■ Britain's Henry Dudeney. Between
them, they created and popularized
many puzzles in the late 19th
century, including the T-puzzle below.
By the age of 17, Loyd was
recognized as the foremost American
chess problem deviser.
In later life he sold numerous puzzles
and games, including a prize version
of the infamous 15-square sliding
block puzzle that was impossible to
complete.

The classic T-puzzle

Copy and cut out the four pieces, and use them to
form a perfect capital letter T. Not so easy, is it? This
is a classic example of how an apparently easy
problem can lead to a conceptual block.

ANSWER page 88

The square game

Here's a creativity exercise
to tackle. Draw a square.
Done that? OK, now do it
at least nine more times.
Then take a look in the
answers section.

ANSWER page 88
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 7
PROBLEM SOLVING AND CREATIVITY

ee if you can spot the tricks and twists

1 in these lateral thinking challenges.

From X to Y
Speed demon
Replace X and Y with different letters so that Pakistani pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar became the
these statements are correct: first man to bowl a cricket ball at 100 miles per
hour. How can the average person propel

OOOVO
10X something at this speed without using any

20X =
equipment?

30X / /

ANSWER page 88 ANSWER page 88

Cheating the heating Get the point?

In a detached house with central heating, it is How many arrows can be seen here?
possible to make the house warmer by turning
down the temperature control on some radiators.
How?

ANSWER page 88 ANSWER page 88

Animal magic Very handy

Using each symbol below only once, form the I need a pair of rubber gloves. I have 50 gloves in a
eight-letter name of a mammal. drawer — 24 are for the left hand and 26 are for the

e h a t
right hand. If I select gloves at random,
what is the least number
of rubber gloves that

d u Ie
I need to pick in order
to have a usable pair?

ANSWER page 88 ANSWER page 88

8 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
LINES AND LINKAGES

In this chapter we will look at straight

lines, so let's get familiar with them.

u The dimensions of space begin with a single

z
converted to straight-line motion by a piston,
point. "A point," said Euclid, "is position this requires bearings that are subject to wear.
without size." Thereafter, the first dimension The first practical solution, devised by James
begins with a line. To build a line, we observe Watt (1736-1819), the inventor of the steam
z the trace of a moving point whose direction
does not alter.
engine, was only approximate. The true curve of
motion was an elongated figure 8, a segment of

H So let's suppose we are engineers with some

which was close enough to a straight line for
111 strong, thin rods. A linkage is a system of these
rods connected to each other by movable joints,
Watt's purposes (see C below).
The first mechanical device to produce exact
or fixed by pivots about which they can turn straight-line motion was Peaucellier's Linkage,
freely. Given a number of rigid rods, can a invented in 1864 (see D below). Have a go at
linkage be found that will produce, by the making one yourself using strips of cardboard
motion of one of its points, a straight line? and butterfly-style paperclips.
It is simple to see that pivoting a single rod at Before we leave this topic, consider this: If a
one end produces a circular motion. The trick is dot has no dimensions, a line has one
to construct straight-line motion in the absence dimension, a square has two dimensions, and a
of a fixed straight line. cube has three, what comes next? It's called a
This problem comes from a practical hypercube and can be imagined either as a line
background — the natural motion produced by a of 3-D cubes or a single cube of computer data
steam engine is rotary. While it can be that changes over time (the fourth dimension).

HOW TO CREATE
A STRAIGHT LINE
A By the ancient rope-stretching
method — stretching a thread or rope
between two points
B By folding a piece of paper

C By using Watt's Linkage

D By using Peaucellier's Linkage
 LINES IN LINE 9
ANDGET LINKAGES

7 1
Flexible linkages
On the far right is a representation of a Who was. ..Euclid?
dodecahedron (a 12-sided solid) made from He was a Greek mathematician born
30 flexible links. Note how three links join at around 300 BC. He is well known for
any one point. Because the links are flexible, his work Elements, a comprehensive
the figure can be moved around to create 13-volume treatise on many aspects
a remarkable variety of forms: a cylinder, a of mathematics with an emphasis on
star, a ten-sided polygon (decagon), and geometry.
an object resembling a flying saucer. Much It is unclear whether he discovered
of the beauty of the original regular shape is everything contained in the work
retained by these distortions, and the extra himself or reorganized the work
lack of regularity and familiarity can arouse of other mathematicians.
our interest. Other geometrical forms can be Nevertheless, modern versions of
built from links and subjected to distortions, Euclid's Elements are still used in
with equally intriguing results. some schools and universities
today — more than 2200 years after
they were originally written.

THE DODECAHEDRON
This is one of the regular (Euclidean)
solids. The others are the tetrahedron,
cube, octahedron, and the
icosahedron.
1 O DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
THE GREAT DIVIDE

7
Farmer Giles was looking
to see how best to divide
Did you know...
up his square field for the The "divided by" symbol first
coming season. He can grow appeared in print in 1659,
a different crop in each but it was used by the i
fenced-off area. Due to Scandinavians as a subtraction
draconian planning sign. The two dots above and below
regulations, any fences he the horizontal line represent the
erects must run in a straight numerator and denominator.
line across the full length of
the field. He wondered how
many types of crops he
would be able to grow and,
being an inquisitive
countryman with nothing
better to do, he decided to
find out...

Rural areas
The farmer found that his field
divides neatly into two regions
using one straight fence. A second
fence can divide each of these
regions into two again, giving a
total of four regions, so he will be
able to grow four crops.
Can a third fence divide all four of
these parts in two? If so, there
would be eight regions formed by
three lines. But in fact there are
only seven: The third line can be
made to pass through three of the
previous four regions, but it
cannot encounter all of them. As a
result, only seven areas can be
formed by building three fences.

7
A Farmer Giles wondered how c Can you guess a general rule
many regions at most could be for the number of regions formed
Did you know...
formed by four straight fences by a given number of fences?
The "forward slash"
across the field. What do you D Finally, can you put your rule sometimes used for
think? into the form of a formula? divisions and, more
B How many different crops recently, in World
could the farmer grow if he had ANSWER page 88 Wide Web (Internet)
five fences? addresses, is called
a virgule.
 GET IN LINE 11
THE GREAT DIVIDE

De-fence-less
Farmer Gill, who lived down the lane from Giles,

didn't have a square boundary to start with. She has

the rather odd-shaped land shown. She used just six
straight fences that enclosed eight triangles, some
of which overlap. Note that there are three different
sizes of triangle — find them in the diagram before
continuing. Not wanting to be upstaged, Farmer
Giles found a completely different (and simpler)
way of erecting six straight fences to enclose eight
triangular regions. However, his solution uses only two
different sizes of triangle. Can you find his method?

HINT A certain flag may help you.

ANSWER page 89

Pizza palaver
How can you cut a circular pizza
into eight pieces using three
straight cuts of a knife? Each
piece must have the same
amount of topping and crust.

ANSWER page 89

Cutting the cake

Suppose you had a cake in the shape of a cube. You can cut the cake
only three times, but you may rearrange the pieces after each cut if you
wish. What is the largest number of pieces into which you can cut the
cake? The pieces do not have to be the same size.

ANSWER page 89
1 2 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
LINE AAEET5 LINE

Jemma, inspired by her glossy interior decoration magazines,

got out her brush and paints and was ready to turn the
magnolia wall in her living room into a riot of color. The
only question was what to draw? And what to do about that
drab window?

Weld done
Jemma wanted to put fancy strips of leading onto Jemma wondered what the general solution was.
her square window. The thin strips of lead had to be In other words, what is the largest number of welds
kept straight, and whenever two strips overlapped required if she used n strips, with each strip oriented
she had to weld them together. It stands to reason in a unique direction? Here's a hint: To get the
that any two strips, if not parallel, had to meet in maximum number of welds, each strip has to cross all
exactly one weld point — the intersection. Similarly, the others. Can this always be arranged?
three strips of lead required three welds at most and,
in the worst case scenario, four strips needed six welds. ANSWER page 89
 GET IN LINE 13
LINE MEETS LINE

Art Deco-ration
Jemma decided on an Art Deco
design to paint onto her wall.
She used a ruler and pen to
draw just seven straight lines
(she didn't want to tire out her
creativity too quickly).
Wherever a triangle had
formed, she painted that area
red. As you can see, her
chosen design formed six
triangles. Could you have
done better?

ANSWER page 89

Gone to pot
Jemma had just about finished her
room when, to her horror, she
realized that her Feng Shui was all
awry. Her ten plant pots were all
over the place, sending her karma
straight out of the window. She
found a pleasant arrangement
(illustrated) in which the ten plant
pots lay on just five different lines.
Each line contains four plant pots.
Can you find at least one other
solution, completely different in
appearance from this one, that
satisfies the same criteria?

ANSWER page 89
■

1 4 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES

THROUGH THE MIDDLE

MI7 was very happy with its new automated

reconnaissance robot, B3RT. The machine was superbly
designed for detecting bugs and booby traps in the most
demanding conditions. But B3RT couldn't turn very quickly,
so his movements were limited to straight lines and
a few turns. This worked fine, until one day someone hit on a
problem...

Nine areas
MI7 would like B3RT to travel
through the nine suspect areas
shown. However, time constraints
limit B3RT to changing his route
only by rotating on the spot on
three occasions at most. (This
would be equivalent to drawing
four straight lines through the
dots without lifting your pencil.)
B3RT can, however, start and
finish wherever he likes.
Can you see the route that B3RT
should take?

ANSWER page 89

Sneaky solution
Can you see a clever way of solving the Nine areas
puzzle by changing B3RT's route just twice? In other
words, by drawing three continuous straight lines
instead of four?

ANSWER page 89
 GET IN LINE 15
THROUGH THE AAIDDLE

Twelve areas
MI7 was planning big things for
B3RT. Suppose he took on a larger
mission in which he would have
to investigate the 12 areas shown.
Starting and finishing at any point,
what is the fewest number of
continuous straight lines needed
to travel through the exact center
of every area?

ANSWER page 89

Sixteen areas
Now suppose B3RT has to travel through the center of these 16 areas
using six continuous lines. Because MI7 is afraid of losing B3RT
in such a large area, they want him to return to wherever he started
from — in other words, the route forms a closed loop. Can you find
such a solution?

ANSWER page 89
1 6 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
EULER'S PROBLEAA

Misha is a schoolboy who lives in the Russian town

of Kaliningrad. The town is famous in the field of
mathematics because, when it was known as Konigsberg,
a mathematician named Leonhard Euler was intrigued by its
seven bridges. Before going to school one morning, Misha
decided to see if he could solve Euler's problem for himself.

Bridge the gaps

According to the legend in a book Misha
borrowed from the library, the people of
the town wondered if it was possible to
go for a walk, crossing each bridge only
once before returning home. Can it be
done? The At a stroke puzzle opposite
may give you insight into how to tackle
this.

ANSWER page 90

?
What is... topology?
Topology is the branch of
mathematics that looks at
the fundamental
connectedness of objects.
For example, the world-
famous map of the
London Underground
bears no relation to the
actual routes that the
trains take. The tunnels are
far more wiggly and the
scale is deceptive.
However, the map captures
the essential nature of how
the tracks connect. In the
case of the bridges of
Konigsberg, we can
represent the real situation
topologically using
diagrams such as those
illustrated here.
 GET IN LINE 17
EULER'S PROBLEM

7
At a stroke
Misha's library book tells the story of the Konigsberg Did you know...
bridge legend. However, something caught his eye
Any political map — that is, a map in
immediately On the inside cover of the book Misha which no bordering countries share
noticed four differently shaped stamps, presumably the same color — can be completed
used to indicate which librarian lent that particular using just four colors. In 1976,
book. He tried tracing each figure without lifting his mathematicians Kenneth Appel and
pencil from the paper, drawing each line once only. Wolfgang Haken proved that four
He found that some diagrams were impossible — colors are sufficient no matter how
which ones? Can you give Misha a general rule to large or complex the map. It was the
help him identify which diagrams can be traversed in first major proof that required the
this way? use of a computer because there
were 1,482 essentially different sub-
HINT Odd numbers
maps to consider. It took 50 days of
computations to arrive at the result.
ANSWER page 90
•

Not impossible after all

Who was... Leon hard Euler? Thinking laterally, how could you actually draw
>

He was a Swiss mathematician who one of the seemingly impossible diagrams from
lived from 1707 to 1783 and wrote the At a stroke puzzle without taking your pencil
off the paper?
up more mathematical research
than anyone else in history. He
ANSWER page 90
popularized the use of the Greek
letter pi (n) to represent the ratio
between a circle's circumference
and its diameter. He had an
excellent memory and so was able
to keep working even though he
became completely blind in later
life. His party trick was said to have
been reciting Virgil's entire Aeneid
from memory.
h
1 8 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
TWIST AND TURN

Charlie didn't want to do his math homework. It was

geometry tonight... ugh! What use could knowing
about "glide reflections" be? He was too busy blasting
(A alien craft from the planet Zaarg to pieces on his game
Ul console. Little did he know that, in a tenuous way, he
was witnessing his homework in action.
0

7
z Originally, computers generated graphics by drawing small dots
called pixels (picture elements) arranged in rows and columns.
< Did you know.
S
This technique is called raster graphics. The -gon ending
The majority of computer games these days use 3-D graphics of the word
to create startlingly realistic worlds and animated characters.
"polygon" comes
Believe it or not, most of these worlds are created using the from the
word Greek
gony,
humble triangle. So whether you're swooning over Lara Croft or
admiring Super Mario's mustache, you're actually looking at meaning knee.
millions of tiny triangles. Round shapes such as circles are created
by drawing lots and lots of thin triangles together. This technique
is called vector graphics.
To move these triangles around the screen, the computer
needs to transform them in three dimensions. Among the
possible types of transformations, the important ones are the
rigid motions or isometries, which move figures but do not
change their shape or size. (The name is from the Greek: isos,
the same; and metros, measure.)

There are four basic types of isometry of the plane:

 TRIANGLES 19
TWIST AND TURN

Child's play
Little did Charlie know that his baby brother, Angus, eight shapes, can you work out how many ways
had already got the hang of isometries. On his Fancy there are of fitting the kiddie blocks into the holes
Games activity set were nine holes through which on the right?
nine corresponding building blocks could be placed.
For instance, Angus noticed that there were two HINT They are in a logical order.
different ways in which the isosceles triangle (shape
2) could be posted through the hole. For the other ANSWER page 90

\ -
\

-~S 7 *V~I \

7
Missing length
Did you know... Two sides of an isosceles triangle (shape 2 above)
A Playstation 2 can process around are 4 and 9 units long. What is the length of the
66 million different triangles in third side?
three-dimensional space every single
second. As well as determining the ANSWER page 90

position, this console can also apply

a texture (pattern) and special A new angle
lighting to each triangle. Even with Contrary to popular belief, the angles of a triangle
all these fancy effects enabled, it do not necessarily total 180 degrees. Can you see
can still draw up to 20 million how it might be possible to draw a triangle that
triangles per second. contains three right angles, totaling 270 degrees?

ANSWER page 90
20 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
DO NOT EAT BEANS

Most of us have heard of Pythagoras, Pythagoreanism. This movement was

but his history is somewhat mysterious, obsessed with the significance of numbers
as he wrote nothing down. He was a Greek and shapes, and it began, in essence, a
philosopher and mathematician who lived branch of mathematics called number
in the 6th century bc. In about 530 bc theory. However, Pythagoras also had a
Pythagoras settled in a Greek colony in Italy number of more unusual beliefs and
where he founded a religious, political,
prophecies, including "do not eat beans."
and philosophical movement known as

The Egyptian triangle

The principle behind right-angled triangles with whole numbers on every
side was known before Pythagoras — he was merely credited with the
first proof. For instance, the surveyors of ancient Egypt are said to have
used a 3-4-5 triangle to construct near perfect right angles. To see this
for yourself, divide a rope into 12 equal parts by making knots or marks.
Use it to form a triangle whose sides are 3, 4, and 5 units long. The
angle between the 3-unit and 4-unit sides will be a right angle.
The 5-unit side is called the hypotenuse.
Note that 32 + 42 = 9 + 16 = 25 = 52. In fact, as long as a2 + b2 = c2,
where a and b are the lengths of the two shorter sides, and c is the
length of the hypotenuse, the triangle must contain a right angle.
Pythagoras' Theorem states that the square of the hypotenuse is the
sum of the squares of the other two sides. Although the 3-4-5 triangle
is the best known, there are infinitely many "Pythagorean Triples."
Another example is 5-12-13.

100% proof Third base

Can you see how this diagram helps you prove Two sides of a right-angled triangle are 8 and 17
Pythagoras' Theorem? units long and the length of the third side is a whole
number. What is the length of the third side?

ANSWER page 90

Did you know...

Pythagoras' Theorem is officially the
C most proven theorem in the history
of mathematics. In 1940, a book
containing over 370 different proofs
was published, including
contributions from Leonardo da Vinci
and James Garfield, the 20th
president of the U.S.
ANSWER page 90
 TRIANGLES 21
DO NOT EAT BEANS

Pythagorean puzzle
Here's a simple jigsaw puzzle you can do by
re-creating these six shapes on cardboard or
paper (see cut-out on page 99).

a First, construct a square on the hypotenuse

of the right-angled triangle using the five
remaining pieces.
b Now move those pieces and form two squares-
one on each of the other sides.

When you have completed both steps, you have

not only solved this puzzle but proved the
Pythagorean Theorem!

ANSWER page 90

t Did you know...

Although infinitely many solutions
exist for a2 + b2 = c2f no solution
exists for a3 + b3 = c3. In fact, no
solution exists for a" + bn = cn, no
matter which whole numbers you
choose for a, b, and c, for values of
n greater than 2 — incredible! This is
known as Fermat's Last Theorem,
after the French mathematician Why is it... called Pythagoras'
Pierre de Fermat. Theorem, and not Pythagoras'
Theory? A theorem is something
For over 350 years, many that has been proved. A theory is
mathematicians offered proofs, but
a potential explanation that seems
they were all found to have flaws.
likely but has not yet been proved.
Cheekily, Fermat himself once wrote,
"I have discovered a truly
remarkable proof of this which this
margin is too small to contain."
The eventual full proof by Andrew
Wiles, an English mathematician at
Princeton University, with the help
of Richard Taylor of Cambridge
University, was published in May
1995. It is around 130 pages long.
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES

h
GRAPH-ICAL ANALYSIS

Janice makes jewelry in a beachside resort in Florida.

Tourists enjoy rifling through the different knicknacks
on display in her small shop on a narrow street near the
m sea. Her signature pieces involve connecting together
clasps with pieces of silver wire and, having made these
o items for several years, Janice was getting rather adept
at calculating the number of essentially different

<
i- designs she could create...

Five important graph families Deluxe jewelry

0
cc Little did Janice know that she was analyzing Some customers prefer to buy Janice's deluxe jewelry.

u. a branch of mathematics called graph theory. These pieces have a pleasingly symmetrical design,
A graph describes a system of dots (vertices even though they take longer to make.

0 or nodes) connected by lines (edges). Two The illustrations show how many wires are needed

z graphs are considered the same, or

topologically equivalent, if corresponding
to connect two to six clasps so that there is a wire
from every clasp to every other clasp. Can you
p nodes are joined in corresponding ways.
Graphs are an abstract representation of
predict how many wire connections are needed
if Janice continues the series with seven, eight, or
Ui I- more clasps?

0
many real-life problems. For example, a

IAM
novelist might write a book from start to
finish, similar to a graph called a path.
A farmer has an ongoing routine of jobs to
do throughout the year, like the cycle graph.
A toy that has several parts that must be
made before the whole toy is assembled is ANSWER page 90
similar to a star or, if the assembly requires
several stages, a tree. And a business meeting
might look like a wheel — everyone interacts Runes
with everyone else. By analyzing a graph, the Janice makes beautiful runes that have a line design
most efficient ordering of tasks for a drawn on them. The designs are created by joining
particular situation may be deduced. every clasp on the perimeter with two other clasps
Path Tree Wheel to form one continuous loop. The diagrams show

,
Star

y
Cycle that with three clasps only one design is possible.
With four clasps, three designs are possible — two

, A A
of these appear similar but are not identical because
■
a they look different when hung from the main clasp.
How many designs would be possible with five

. N Y A clasps? Six? What's the general rule?

, M X YX
. AV 0 T * *
ANSWER page 90
 GETTING FROM A TO B 23
GRAPH-ICAL ANALYSIS

How to play
Galaxy game
This puzzle game is based on an original design The aim is to visit all the planets of the galaxy (the
by the 19th-century Irish mathematician circles) in one continuous trip. Place the 1 counter
William Rowan Hamilton. on any circle you like. This is your home planet. Now
fly to any adjoining planet and place the 2 counter
Setup there. Continue around the galaxy, placing the disks
You can play this game by writing the numbers in in strict number order from 1 to 20. The aim of the
game is to visit every planet once, but you must
pencil, but it's best if you cut out the 20 disks
numbered from 1 to 20 (see cutout on page 99). return to your home planet at the end of the trip!

answer page 90

©@®©
©©©®®®©®@©©©©®©®
24 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
VERY TWO-DIMENSIONAL

7
There's much cutthroat competition among
the utility industries in Smallville. Given Did you know...
that pipelines and wires sometimes have to Although our utility graph has only
share the same holes in the ground, sabotage two dimensions, and everyday life
and industrial espionage cannot be has three dimensions, some
eliminated. Here we look at the problems scientists believe that the universe
created if each company wishes to stay well may have as many as ten
away from the others... dimensions? This idea, called the
superstring theory, is the best
The utilities problem candidate for a theory that binds
If a network of connections can be drawn on a 2-D the entire universe together. In this
plane without any lines crossing (other than at a theory, everything in the universe
node or junction), then it is said to be planar. For consists of fantastically small
example, the graph formed by the components of an strings, which are vibrating and
electrical circuit on one side of a printed circuit board spinning in a ten-dimensional space
must be planar to avoid short circuits. The strings are so small that
In this problem, each house in Smallville wants 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 of
to receive gas, water, and electricity. However, each them laid end to end would equal
company is adamant that its pipes and wires cannot the diameter of one proton.
cross over any from a rival utility. Can you connect
each house with each utility in such a way that no
lines intersect (in other words, form a planar graph)?
It can be done.

ANSWER page 91

Gas
o
Water
o
Electricity
 GETTING FROM A TO B 25
VERY TWO-DIMENSIONAL

Sprouts Start position

Here's a clever little game you can play with planar
• •
graphs. All you need is a pen, a blank piece of A B
paper... and an opponent.
After one move
Setup
Draw two dots on the paper, several inches apart.
A B
Procedure
After two moves
Players take turns. On your turn connect up any two
dots, then draw a new third dot somewhere in the
middle of the line. On the first move, there is only
one move you can make. However, the situation gets B
more complex as the game continues. End of game

Rules
a No line may cross any other line (that is, the graph
must be planar).
b No node (junction) can have more than three lines
connecting to it. You can put a circle around any dot
connected by three lines to help you avoid it.
Advanced game
Outcome
Once you've got the hang of the simple
The loser is the first player who finds it impossible version, try starting the game with three or
to make a valid move. four unconnected dots.

Off to work we go
Workers from the electricity, gas, water,
and telephone companies need to get to
their corresponding offices. However, so
suspicious are they of their rivals that they
will not even cross the path taken by any
of the other employees. Can you lead

i
each employee to the correct office
without any of their paths crossing?

Upsizing
Suppose, instead, there were six workers

i
trying to get to six offices. Would the
problem still be solvable?

ANSWERS page 91
26 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
ROADS AND TREES

The council of the small island of Fifetons schemes they have to consider. They could be
is in disarray. None of the counselors can here all week. Thankfully, help is close at
hand...

n
agree on how many essentially different road

Ground plan o o
A counselor from the nearby island of Fawrtons had
come along to Fifetons' planning meeting. "We drew
out all the essentially different possibilities," explained 6 6
the counselor. "Each one had a unique way of
connecting up the roads, no matter how the roads
were laid out in real life. We found there were 16
ways of connecting together four towns using just
three roads. Although you have five towns, to be
connected with four roads, that should help." Indeed
it did. Can you work out how many essentially
different plans the Roads Committee of Fifetons will
have to consider?

HINT It is a powerful series, and examining simpler examples

may be useful.
ANSWER page 91

7
Lang time, no see
On the nearby Lang Island, there are also four towns Did you know...
but they are spaced farther apart, as shown. The The problem of visiting all four
position of each town is accurate. The previous road towns in the shortest possible
system was scrapped, and it is currently not possible ■ distance is called The Traveling
for anyone to travel anywhere safely. What Salesman Problem. It is not
arrangement of roads will allow access to every town straightforward to work out the
and yet use the shortest total length of road? shortest route to take. Imagine this
with more towns and roads, and the
HINT The roads can cross and form junctions if you wish. calculations rapidly increase. If a
salesman had a 50-city itinerary,
ANSWER page 91 even a fast computer would take
1 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000 times the age
of the universe to calculate the best
route. This kind of puzzle, in which
the possibilities increase rapidly
when the problem gets only slightly
more complex, is known as a non-
deterministic polynomial (NP)

problem.
 GETTING FROM A TO B 27
ROADS AND TREES

Mathematical trees
Trees are traditional symbols of life and growth.
If your choice doesn't agree with the computer's
Tree graphs occur in early attempts to represent suggestion, you can add a new question that
logical relations diagrammatically, and they were distinguishes between the character you were
known to Aristotle. Ancient and medieval
thinking of and the computer's guess. This adds
philosophers were obsessed with tree graphs. another node and branch to the tree, which means
These are still widely used to classify objects in that the tree has "learned" a new person. Over time,
hierarchical systems. For example, the classification the tree grows and increases the chance of guessing
of all living creatures is broken down into kingdoms, the right answer. Another fun thing to do is to play
which branch into phyla, genera, species, and so on. the tree again, answering the questions as you would
A related area of mathematics in which topological personally — the result tells you which sitcom
ideas arise is the theory of graphs. When nodes are character you most closely resemble.
joined by lines, what matters is not the precise
position of the lines and nodes but the way they Points Trees Points Trees
connect. A graph is connected if it is all in one •
<
piece, meaning that there is a continuous path
from any node to any other. The precise shape
of the edges is irrelevant.
If a graph contains a circuit (that is, any closed
loop of different lines), then so does any
topologically equivalent graph. Graphs that do
not contain any circuits are called trees. It is easy
to see why — the lines often branch but they
never link up again.
Many real-life processes can be represented
as trees. For example, Connect Four, the "drop
counters to get four in a row" game, has been
so thoroughly analyzed by a computer mapping
out the entire tree of possible moves that the
computer cannot lose. Chess has not been
"solved" in this way because the possible routes
multiply rapidly after just a few moves.
A binary tree, in which a maximum of two
branches occur at any node, is a basic form of
artificial intelligence. Examples of binary tree
guessing games can be found on the Internet.
For example, the computer may invite you to
think of a sitcom character. It will then ask you
a series of yes/no questions such as "Are you
thinking of a man?" and "Are you thinking of an
American character?" Depending on your answer,
the computer goes down a different branch of
the tree. At the very end of any particular path,
the computer will say which character you are
thinking of.
THE
DEVIOUSLY
GAME
DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING
OF TREES
PUZZLES
l_
The idea of topological equivalence is

t1
fundamental to many areas of modern
mathematics. This is a simple and rewarding
game for two or more players, designed to
encourage such understanding.

1
Set-up
On pages 101 and 103, you will find diagrams

_l
depicting a selection of 64 tree graphs with 3, 4, 5,
and 6 nodes, which you can cut out. If you are
playing with the Advanced rule (see below), note that CARDS FOR

I.I
each of the 16 rows contain 4 topologically equivalent PLAYING TREES
Here are four graphs

1 1
cards (i.e., their endpoints and junctions are essentially
the same except for rotations). that all have six
You will also need a set of six sticks of the same endpoints. They are
all topologically
length (such as pencils, chopsticks) to re-create the
graphs shown on the cards.
equivalent.

Rules of the game

Object Valid moves
To collect the highest score by using the sticks to There are three basic types of move:
form the graphs shown on the cards. a Pick up one stick from the line of sticks on the
table and lay it in a new position.
How to play b Add a stick from the reserve.
1 Shuffle the cards and place them facedown in a pile. c Remove a stick and place it in reserve. On his or
2 Place five sticks in a straight line on the table. The her turn, a player can make any two moves plus as
sixth stick is held in reserve. many free moves (rotations, see below) as desired.
3 The first player takes the top three cards from the d A player may make a rotation at any time.
pile and places them face up. He or she then has A rotation involves pivoting a stick about one of its
two moves (types of move explained opposite) to ends, provided this end remains attached to the
change the positions of the sticks to match the remainder of the graph at all times. Clearly, a stick
graphs shown on the exposed cards. that is attached at both ends cannot rotate.
4 If a player succeeds in forming such a graph, he or There is no limit to the number of rotations a
she takes that card and keeps it until the end of player may make. If the player achieves a target
the game. Note: A player may take a card even if shape after one or more rotations, he or she wins
the sticks are in a different orientation to that on that card.
the card. For example, if the sticks look correct Winning
when the card is turned upside down, the player
wins the card. The winner is the player with the most cards.
5 The second player now takes enough cards from the
pile to bring the number of exposed cards up to Advanced rule
three once more, and plays in exactly the same way. In the advanced version, a player may also take
6 Each person keeps taking turns to play until all the a card if the graph on the card is topologically
cards have been taken. equivalent to the current orientation of the sticks.
 GETTING FROM A TO B
THE GAAAE OF TREES

I
I

i i
i i
i i

Initial U

position Moves of the game Rotations

Sample move
It is the first player's turn. The five sticks are placed
in a straight line, with the sixth in reserve. The top
row shows the three cards that the first player
turned up. Note: In this example we are playing
the game without the use of the Advanced rule.

first move Player moves one stick (move type

A) and rotates one ottier (free move type D) to
achieve diagram 3. Take that card.

free move Player rotates the bottom stick for First move — Rotation —
card 3 taken card 1 taken Second
card 2 move
taken —
free (move type D) and wins card 1, even though

tiC
the graph is upside-down.

second move Player returns one stick to the

reserve (move type C) and wins card 2.

Therefore, this player has scored all three available

»h
points. The next player now turns over three new
cards and the game continues.

1
30 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
RAMSEY'S GAAAE

How to play
Some theorems about graphs with
identifiable nodes and lines were proved Two players (red and blue in this example) take
by Frank Plumpton Ramsey, so this graph- turns to color one complete line (node to node)
coloring game is named after him. Here the on the board. However, you may not draw a line
game board is a nine-node complete if it forms a closed triangle whose edges are all the
graph — that is, every node is connected to same color.
every other node. Winning

The first player who finds it impossible to make a

Ramsey's game
Equipment needed valid move is the loser. The other player is the winner.
1 Two felt-tip pens (preferably the type that draw on
acetate overhead projector sheets) of different colors Follow-up activity
2 One sheet of transparent acetate Try playing the game with other complete graphs.

A COMPLETED CAME
The red player lost by being
forced to close a red triangle
(yellow area).
 GETTING FROM A TO B 31
RAMSEY'S GAME

Ramsey game board

Place a transparent plastic sheet
over this page, so that you can
play the game several
times without marking
the book (or see
cutout on
page 105).

Who
Wl was. ..Ramsey?
*^
W The
The mathematician and philosopher Frank Plumpton
Rar
Ramsey was born in Cambridge, England, in 1903.
He read mathematics at Trinity College there, and
was only 21 years old when he was made a fellow of
King's College. He was inspired by Bertrand Russell —
another famous mathematician and philosopher, who
proved that all mathematics was logic and nothing else.
Ramsey died at the early age of 26 following surgery.
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
INGENIOUS TANGRAMS

square, which are used to form silhouettes

In Chinese, the tangram is called "the of hundreds of different figures. They
ingenious puzzle of seven pieces," but
no one is quite sure how the puzzle was resemble people, animals, geometrical
(0 originally devised. The prolific American designs, and everyday objects.
z puzzler Sam Loyd claimed that historians
0 had discovered 4000-year-old scriptures of
the god Tan, but this was a cheeky hoax.
Unlike jigsaw puzzles, in which the
required assembly is unique due to the
h Others believe that mathematicians interlocking nature of the pieces, tangram
O devised the puzzle many hundreds of puzzles offer few clues to the solver. A
u years ago. However, it is difficult to find combination of spatial awareness, trial and
0 any concrete proof of its existence until error, and playing on hunches is necessary
(A the 18th century. Whatever the true story, to crack the most difficult problems.
the puzzle only became popular in about
0 1800 after Western sailors and traders There are dozens of variations on the
brought it back from their trips to the port tangram, but here we present it in its
of Canton in China. original form, probably still the best puzzle
of its type.
The tangram consists of seven regular
geometric-shaped pieces, cut from a

How to make
a tangram
To make your own tangram, cut
out the top seven pieces on page
107. Now try to do some of the
puzzles on the opposite page.
 DISSECTIONS 33
INGENIOUS TANGRAMS

Tangram challenges
Using the tangram pieces, try to form each of these
pictures. There are only two rules: All seven pieces
must be used, and the pieces are not allowed to
overlap. Start off with the people and animals first,
then move on to the more difficult geometric designs.

ANSWERS page 91
34 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
INGENIOUS TANGRAMS

For this puzzle, cut out the two identical sets of pieces on page
107. Take the four largest triangles and arrange them as
shown in either of the diagrams below. Now use all the
remaining pieces to complete the large square. Once you've
solved one, try the other.

DOUBLE TANGRAAA PUZZLE

ANSWER page 91
 DISSECTIONS 35
ABOUT THE SQUARE

about
greatns, squares? ^IT'S A SQUARE! n>
What's Mathemsoaticia magicians, and ^ m
>
people who like puzzles and games C
get very excited about them because
they are simple and complete, but also < _
because they are shapes you can do
much with. The author Lewis Carroll's
opinion was clear: o3 EQUILATERAL!!!

A square is defined as a plane three or four short steps, with the The square is found in nature
figure with four equal sides and square as their common thread. in the crystals of many minerals,
four right (90°) angles. A square is The Pythagoreans called four, including common salt (sodium
counted as a rectangle, but is the first non-trivial square number, chloride). It has provided the
regarded as a special type. If the the number of justice, because it is proportions for famous ancient
length of the side of a square is X, the first one obtained by structures and modern buildings
then the area of the square is X to multiplying the same number and even played a role in the
the power of 2, or X squared. This together: 2 x 2 = 4. To this day, structure of the Hebrew alphabet.
is where the term for the product The square has given birth to
square means "truth." Someone
that results from multiplying who is a square shooter or is many ancient games that are still
anything by itself comes from. foursquare is a frank and honest played today: chess, Go, solitaire,
When a square is divided into person with firm convictions. dominoes — and many new games
smaller squares we obtain a matrix A square meal is good, honest that have yet to be created.
or lattice that becomes magic food, while President Theodore Try your hand at the square
when filled with numbers in Roosevelt offered his citizens activities overleaf.
special configurations. In its the Square Deal
in 1902.
lifelong partnership with the right-
angled triangle, the square has
inspired more mathematics than
most of us are aware exist. From

Pythagoras' Theorem to
Einstein's General Theory of
Relativity, and from the flat
geometry of Euclid to the
curvature of space, it is but

4 9 2

3 5 7

VARIATIONS 8 1 6
ON THE SQUARE
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
SPLITTING SQUARES

Jigsaws are named after the workshop tool used to

create them. See if you can crack these devious jigsaws.
Use cardboard and the cutouts on page 109 to make
them yourself.

Square dissections
All these patterns can be
made by drawing a square,
then dividing the sides into
halves or thirds. They can
easily be drawn, colored,
and cut out to become
dissection puzzles (see
cut-out on page 109).
To re-create the original
squares from their parts
is often harder than you
might think...
 DISSECTIONS 37
SPLITTING SQUARES

Five-piece suite
1 rectangle
This five-piece jigsaw is very versatile. To make one,
2 triangle
draw a square, then mark the point that is halfway
along each edge. Then draw a diagonal line from one 3 Swiss cross
corner to the middle of an opposite side, as shown. 4 parallelogram
Now cut out the pieces along the solid black lines in s rhomboid
the illustration to give you five pieces (or see cutout
on page 111). ANSWER page 91
In succession, rearrange the five parts to form the
five geometrical figures shown on the right.

Number jig
Squarea
Suppose the area of the overall square in the Five- Suppose you had a jigsaw consisting of 1 ,000
piece suite puzzle is 100 square units. What is the standard (interlocking) pieces. Joining one group of
area of the individual small square piece? pieces to one other group of pieces counts as one
move. Here, a group means one or more. What is the
answer page 91 fewest number of moves that it will take to connect
all 1,000 pieces? What is the greatest number of
moves required?

ANSWER page 91
 1
DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
REARRANGEMENTS

Hexagon to triangle puzzle

Copy and cut out the six parts of the
dissected hexagon (or see cutout on page
111). Rearrange the six parts to form an
equilateral triangle. Pieces may be flipped
over if necessary.

ANSWER page 91

Six-pointed star puzzle

Copy and cut out the six parts of
the dissected six-pointed star (or see
cutout on page 111). Rearrange the
six parts to form a perfect square.

answer page 91

0
♦
 DISSECTIONS
REARRANGEMENTS

Stars puzzle
Copy and cut out the 24 parts of the 12-pointed star (or see cutout
on page 111). Rearrange the 24 pieces to form three identically shaped
smaller replicas of the big star.

ANSWER page 91
40 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
STORAGE ROOAA

Ashia was attempting to de-junk her N = number of boxes

life. After years of collecting N = 1
K = 1 K = cost in units
thimbles, pottery pigs, and countless
back issues of Barbie World magazine,
but without the heart to throw them

2 out, she decided to pack the lot off to

be looked after by the Fair and Square
LU Storage Company (FASSC).

o
z
The company supplies free cubic cardboard N = 2 K = 2 N = 3 K=2 N =4 K =2
boxes for its customers to use. Unusually, the
firm charges by the amount of floor space the

o boxes take up, and insists that the area must

i
be square. So if you don't use all of your area,
that's tough luck. However, the length of the
square's sides does not have to be a whole
number. Incidentally, boxes cannot be stacked
on top of each other for safety reasons. N = 5 K = 2.707 = 5 K =2.828
When Ashia sent her first storage box to
FASSC, she was charged one unit. When she
had another box to send, she soon realized
that she might as well send two more because
the cost would be the same for two, three, or
four boxes (2 x 2).
When the fifth box was full, things got a bit
more complicated. Since there was no reason N = 6 K = 3 = 7 K =3
why the boxes couldn't be tilted, clever
solutions were possible. Out of the two likely
possibilities, the more efficient packing was
obtained if only the central square was tilted.
In this instance, the cost was 2.707 units
because that was the size of the smallest
square that contained all the boxes.
The next tricky decision came when the
N = 8 K =3 N =9 K = 3
amount of junk stored reached ten boxes (yes,
Ashia liked Barbie that much). No one has yet
found a better solution than the one shown,
but that doesn't mean one doesn't exist. For
the eleventh and final box, FASCC was going
to charge Ashia for 3.914 units of storage.
However, a slightly better solution was
possible...

BOXING CLEVER
N = 10 K = 3.707 N = 11 K = 3.914
How Ashia's belongings from one to eleven
boxes were packed in the warehouse. (best packing known so far) (not the minimal)
 PACKING 'EM IN 41
STORAGE ROOAA

7
Boxing clever
Cut out 1 1 unit squares of exactly the dimensions Did you know...
shown below. The aim of the game is to pack all the This type of packing problem was
squares into the square warehouse below. Remember important in the days when wars were
that no square must cross the black line nor overlap won with cannon fire. By using a
any other square. It can be done! telescope to determine the packing
pattern and height of your opponents'
ANSWER page 92 pile of cannonballs, you could
determine how much ammunition
they had left.

PACKING FLOOR AREA

K = 3.877

UNIT SQUARE
42 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
PAVING THE WAY

Terry Cotta is the proud owner of "Terry's Mad Mad Mad

Mad Mad Mad Tile and Paving Warehouse," the brand
new out-of-town emporium for all your tile and paving needs.
Terry stocks only square tiles in unit sizes because he feels
they are usable for any purpose — you can see some of his
impressive shop displays, made out of squares, on the
opposite page.

1 2 3 4 Patio ratio
□
Suppose a customer came in to Terry's Mad Mad Mad ... shop to buy
some tiles for a square patio. The customer wants to use at least two
paving slabs. Since Terry stocks only square shapes in various sizes, as
shown below, what is the fewest number of square slabs the customer
5 6 will need to buy? In other words, what is the smallest number of squares
you can divide these squares into? We have provided grids for areas of
2 x 2 up to 13 x 13.

ANSWER page 92

7 8 9 10

11 12 13
 PACKING 'EM IN 43
PAVING THE WAY

TERRY'S TILES
Some attractive designs formed from
squares only.
44 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
DRAWN, HALVED, AND QUARTERED

Mr. and Mrs. Moore's terrible twins, Polly and Molly,

were always arguing. Whether it was the number of
Rice Krispies in their breakfast bowls or who had the most
glittery makeup, nothing was beyond their squabbles.

So when the Moore family moved into their new designer

home, mayhem was about to break loose. Mr. Moore had
decided to divide each room into two, so that each child
could play on her own without argument. The rather
freeform design of the rooms meant that this was going to
be a bit tricky, however...

Separate the sisters

How can Mr. Moore divide each
of these rooms into two so that
each twin has the same play area?
The sisters insist that areas must
be exactly congruent — that is, the
same shape as well as the same
area. Mr. Moore wants to draw
just one line across each room,

although he doesn't mind

whether the line is straight or
curved. Incidentally, the square

gridbemight
to help but doesn't have
followed.

ANSWER page 92

7 ■
Did you know...
A half and a quarter
are the only two
fractions with special
names. All the other
names (a third, fifth,
sixth, seventh...) are
the same as the
ordinal numbers.
 PACKING 'EM IN 45
DRAWN, HALVED, AND QUARTERED

7
Sequestrate the siblings
Happily (or sadly, depending on how you look at it) Did you know...
Mrs. Moore gave birth to two bouncing baby boys The half-life of some radioactive
some years later. They moved to a house with rooms material is the amount of time it
that were larger and, thankfully, less esoteric in takes for its mass to decay to half its
shape. Yet even now none of the children were original value. If you were to plot a
getting on with each other. How can Mr. Moore graph of the mass over time,
divide each of these rooms into four using the it would be smooth and gradually
same conditions as the previous puzzle so that Polly, become more horizontal — this is
Molly, Tommy, and Timmy all have identical areas known as an exponential curve.
in which to play? The half-life of a radioactive
material can vary wildly — the isotope
ANSWER page 92 polonium-212 halves in under a
microsecond while uranium-236
takes 4,500,000,000 years to do
the same.
46 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
POLYCO

The earliest jigsaw puzzle is said to have been

invented by Englishman John Spilsbury in about
1760. He intended it to be used as an educational toy,
but jigsaws are still used by adults, including Queen
Elizabeth II, as a pastime, especially over Christmas.
The next few pages offer you the opportunity to
< make a number of colorful jigsaws and jigsaw CAME SAMPLE
(0 games for yourself, ranging from the simple to the The four tiles in the center form
0 virtually impossible. a violet shape scoring 14 points.

Polygo
This puzzle game for two or more players SCORE CARD
is based on the recognition of polygons.

Set-up ▲ ^6V A
Cut out all 24 squares on page 113. A\ Z zf>^x
Lay the tiles facedown and mix them
thoroughly. 7 \ | 7

\ \

35 S£i *<y 9^d en >CP

How to play
1 Each player chooses a different color.
2 Players take turns to select a tile and
place it face up on the table
adjacent to the tiles already laid. The
zyrn<KCOzK J>
aim is to create polygons of the
same color (see the game sample).
3 The game continues until all the tiles
have been used. TV 10 L^ioL^vJ
Scoring
Each player adds up the scores of the
"Xjcr cj?cp 11

completed polygons of their color.

Each polygon will be formed from four
tiles, placed in a square, with the four
7 12

13 cO K
z A
touching corners all having the same »"12
12 "< 13
color. The point values for the scoring 13
16
polygons are shown in the chart on
13
the right. Shapes that differ only by 14
14 15
a rotation still score.

Winning
Solo version
CP
The player with the highest total wins.
You can also play a solitaire version of the game. Can you
assemble all 24 tiles in a 6 x 4 rectangle so that all the
colors match when two tiles are adjacent?
JIGSAWS 47
POLYGO
48 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
BITS AND PIECES

Ernie Flamsteed had been working in the bit), which computers use to store data and
depot of Awkward and Sons since 1937. as such are very flexible. This is why many
Never one to be at the white hot tip of companies were using them these days to
technology, he had only just started getting store not just UPC (Universal Product Code)
the hang of ordinary bar codes when along numbers but customer details and product
came a new invention — two-dimensional descriptions, too. Admittedly, this new system
bar codes. required a more accurate form of reader.
Ernie put on his brown coat and shuffled
It stood to reason, his manager explained. off down the corridor to see what all the
Each tiny square represented a binary digit (or fuss was about...

Bits jigsaw Ernie's enigma

This particular bar code Ernie was taking the inventory in the depot when he
system uses four squares. realized someone had stuck a permanent label right

Effl
Since each square has two in the middle of the bar codes. Luckily, Ernie knows
different possibilities that each bar code can be constructed with a set of
(turquoise and blue), there Bits pieces (see left). He could just see the edge of
are 2x2x2x2 = 16 each bar code beneath the label, so that helped.

I I.
different possibilities. Each Furthermore, the colors of adjacent 2x2 Bits pieces
possibility represents a match on all edges. Can you reassemble the bar
number, and in turn several codes so that they are valid for all 6 products,
of these squares together (see cut-out on page 115)?
can represent anything you
like — symbols, words, ANSWER page 92

pictures. . .
Make your own set of
Bits pieces (see cut-out on
BITS
page 115) then tackle the
PIECES SET
next puzzle and game.

7 Did you know . . .

The first supermarket product to be
scanned by bar code was a packet
of Wrigley's chewing gum. The
momentous event happened on June
26, 1974, at the Marsh Supermarket
in Troy, Ohio. The pack of gum is
currently held in the Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, D.C. The
first patent for a bar code dates back
to 1949, and bar codes were used in
the early 1960s to identify railway
rolling stock.
 JIGSAWS
BITS AND 49
PIECES

Bits board game

7
The Bits pieces you made for the previous puzzle can
also be used for this engaging two-player game. Ernie Did you know...
finds it a gentle diversion when life in the depot gets What's in a standard stripey bar
too hectic for him. code? There are a pair of bars at the
left, middle, and right of the pattern
Set-up that warn the reader that a bar code
You need one set of 16 Bits tiles and the 8x8 square is imminent. A laser then reads two
board below (see page 115) such that each tile fits sets of numbers — the set on the left
exactly on four of its squares. Place the tiles face is usually the code number of the
down and mix them thoroughly. manufacturer. The second set is the
actual product number. There is also
How to play
a "check digit" — a precalculated
1 In turn, each player must take a tile and place it on number that gives the reader a 90%
the board. It must fit over exactly four of the chance of ensuring it has read the
squares on the board. bar code correctly, and that the
2 Whenever a tile is played, it must match the edges
width of the bar codes hasn't been
of any adjacent tiles already on the board, in a
tampered with.
fashion similar to dominos.
3 Tiles may be placed so that they touch only half an
edge of another tile — see the sample game below.

Winning

The first player unable to place his

or her tile is the loser. The other

player wins.

Open exercise
What is the shortest possible
game you can find? That is, if a
single player plays solitaire, and
selects from the 16 tiles laid face
up, what is the smallest number of
tiles needed to block the board so
that no others can be laid?

ANSWER page 92

BITS BOARD GAME SAMPLE

This game was completed in
nine moves.
50 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
HONEYCOAABS AND HEXABITS

There are only three types of tiles made from regular

polygons that can tessellate — that is, cover an infinitely
large wall without leaving any gaps. They are triangles,
squares, and hexagons. Bees obviously plumped for the last
option when designing their honeycombs.

Hexabits
The set of hexagons shown here represent different
ways of dividing a hexagon into two-color areas.
Copy and cut out all 19 shapes (see cut-out on
page 117). The object of the game is to fit all
the hexagons onto the blank honeycomb
grid opposite so that all touching
edges match in color.

m
mm
o
 HONEYCOMBS AND JIG SAWS 5i
HEXABITS

Hexabits puzzle
Place all 19 pieces on this grid. Remember to match the color of all touching edges.

ANSWER page 92
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
DIY DOAAINOES

Grandpa Wilkins had done it again. "Hang on, I've just

found the double five." Never the most organized of
people, he left his domino set all over the room. After
searching for an hour with only nine discovered dominoes to
show for their efforts, his nephews were becoming impatient.
Luckily, the eldest nephew — a bit of a whiz at math — realized
that by using some cardboard, scissors, and a few colored
pens they could make some rather different dominoes of
their own that could prove to be far more challenging.

Domino derby
To play this combination puzzle, copy out the 24 colored square
dominoes (see cut-out on page 119). These show every possible way
of coloring a square's edges using three colors. The aim of the game
is to make all the dominoes fit so that all the touching edges match.
This in itself is not too difficult. The extra twist is that the entire outer
border must be the same color.

ANSWER page 92

^^ ^r

/ X.
 JIGSAWS 53
DIY DOAAINOES

Domino rally
Cut out the 24 triangular dominoes on page 119. Again, the touching
edges must match and the entire outer border of the hexagonal grid
must be the same color.

ANSWER page 92

How many bones?

Did you know... How many domino pieces, or
Traditional dominoes didn't have "bones," are there in a traditional
blanks originally and were used (standard) set? Can you get the
in 12th-century China to represent answer by reasoning rather than
all throws possible with two dice. simply listing them all?
The Chinese called them dotted
cards. They were introduced into ANSWER page 92
England by French prisoners
in the late 18th century. Some
North American Inuits play
a similar game to dominos using
sets of up to 148 pieces.
54 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
LO-SHU AND FRIENDS

Magic Squares are one of the oldest and most

popular puzzles in existence. It is thought that
the first magic square, the Lo-Shur dates from as early
as 2200 bc. It appeared in the Chinese Book of
111 Permutations.
E
< The magic square is a set of natural numbers (positive
integers) in serial order, beginning with 1, arranged
a in a square formation, with the following magic
property: If you add the numbers in any row or any
(A column, or either of the main diagonals, you always
o get the same result, called the "magic number."

9 The Lo-shu magic square

There is only one way of forming a magic
A diabolic square
Albrecht Durer's etching Melancholia includes this
square from the whole numbers from 1 to 9
4x4 magic square. We've removed all the odd
inclusive. Can you find it? numbers from the diagram. Can you replace them
to complete it? When you've done that, see how
ANSWER page 92 many ways you can obtain the magic number 34
from the solution.

ANSWER page 93

2
10

4 14

J
 MAGIC SQUARES 55
LO-SHU AND FRIENDS

Latin square of order 5

— r 1 I

Leonhard Euler devised a new type

of magic square, the Latin square,
in which no color appears more
than once in any direction,
horizontally, vertically, or on the

inr
two main diagonals. As a puzzle,
see if you can place the colors in a
suitable Latin square arrangement.

ANSWER page 93

Latin square
of order 6
This time, the aim of the
puzzle is to create a Latin
square of order 6. Is this
possible? Can you place
32 tiles on the board?

ANSWER page 93

nnn
□□□

Latin square game

If you have a friend with you, you can play a game using the concepts
covered in the puzzles above. First, make 25 tiles (five of each of five
colors). Players alternate by placing a tile on the 5x5 game board so
that no color appears more than once in any row, column, or diagonal.
Once a tile is placed on the board, it cannot be moved. The winner is
the last player able to make a valid move.
Once you've mastered this game, make a few more pieces to bring
your set up to six pieces in six colors and play the game on the 6x6
grid using the same rules.
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
NOT FAIR AND SQUARE

ee if you can crack these more advanced

magic square problems.

The tricky eight

In the Lo-Shu puzzle on page 54,
you will have found that the 8
normally occupies one of the
corner spaces. Can you make a
magic square in which the magic
number is 15 and the 8 is placed
in the position shown? You can
use any numbers you like.

ANSWER page 93

In the red
Complete this magic square so
that it contains nine consecutive
integer numbers. Seems easy, • ]

doesn't it?

ANSWER page 93
HBM^M — — — ii "' ■ ■ ■ '--■ »■» a
 MAGIC SQUARES
NOT FAIR AND SQUARE

Versatile squares
Not all magic squares have to be about adding up C How could you distribute the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4,
numbers: 6, 9, 12, 18, and 36 so that, for any row, column,
A How could you distribute the whole numbers and main diagonal of three numbers, the following
from 1 to 9 inclusive in a 3 x 3 grid so that when you always gives the same result: (outer two numbers
subtract the middle number from the sum of the multiplied together) divided by (central number)?
outer two numbers in any row, column, or main
diagonal, the result is always the same? ANSWER page 93
B How could you distribute 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18,
and 36 so that the numbers in any row, column, and
main diagonal give the same product if multiplied?

A B

Devilish dozen That's odd

If anything, this is a non-magic diagram. The aim is Place the odd numbers 1 , 3, 5,. . .21 , 23, 25 into
to place the numbers from 1 to 12 into the grid so the remaining cells to form a standard magic square.
that no two consecutive numbers appear anywhere
in the same row, column, or any of the diagonals. ANSWER page 93

10
22 18
ANSWER page 93
14
20 24

2 6
8 4 16 12
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
LIFE'S A LOTTERY

You may know that the odds in a lottery of picking

the winning 6 balls from the numbers 1 to 49 are

I
around 14 million to 1, but where does this number
come from? There are 49 possibilities for the first ball,
48 for the second, 47 for the third, and so on until 44
for the sixth. So that's 49 x 48 x 47 x 46 x 45 x 44. But
remember that the order of the six winning balls does
z not matter. By a similar token, there are 6x5x4x3x
o 2x1 ways of arranging those balls. Dividing this
number into the original result gives 13,983,816
X different results, or permutations.

Using the factorial notation we've already encountered

z
in this book in the answer to the Runes puzzle on page
22, where n! = n x (n - 1) x...x 3 x 2 x 1, you could
< write this as 49!/(43! x 6!).

Tiles for Permutino

There are 4! = 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 =24 ways of coloring
a strip of four squares using four colors once each.
Practically, there only 12 different designs because
you can turn any strip upside down to match another
strip. Copy and cut out the 24 strips to play the
Permutino game (see cut-out on page 121).

7 Did you know...

Spain is the world's most avid
gambling nation. In El Gordo ("the
fat one") up to 2.75 trillion pesetas
(about $24.5 billion) are staked
every year. Whole villages join
together to buy sequential books
of tickets — sometimes a big win
can be shared throughout the
neighborhood. One in three tickets
wins some form of prize. In an effort
to help handicapped people, Spanish
lottery tickets are sold only by
registered blind persons.
 ANY WHICH WAY
LIFE'S A LOTTERY

Permutino
This game for two to four players is based on the
dominoes principle.

Set-up
You will need one set of 24 Permutino tiles. Deal the
strips to players in turn, until all have been dealt.

How to play
1 Each player chooses a color.
2 Players take turns to add a strip to the pattern on
the table. It must match the existing colors along all
edges that touch.
3 If a player cannot lay a strip he forfeits his turn.
4 When all the strips have been laid, or no player can
move, each player calculates his score.

Scoring
Any square belonging to a connected region of
squares of a player's color that contains four or more
squares counts as one point (so a four-square
connection merits four points). In the example game
shown, blue has seven points because he has a
connected region with seven squares in it. In the Number of squares
event of a tie, the player with the largest connected Color 4
8 7 6 5 Score
region wins.
4

7
■

PERMUTINO CAME SAMPLE 4

Sample game with its score chart.

Postman's knock What are the odds?

Every day, a postman has to deliver exactly one letter Jessie has just sealed her Christmas cards into five
to each house in a street. The postman is rather different envelopes but has forgotten which card is
demoralized, and does not bother to look at the addressed to whom. If she puts the five
•
■
address on each envelope, preferring to leave things corresponding addresses on the envelopes at random,
to chance. Given that the number of houses does not what is the probability that a all five envelopes are
matter, how many of the letters, on average, will be addressed correctly? B exactly four of the five
delivered to the correct destination? envelopes are addressed correctly?

ANSWER page 93 ANSWER page 93

60 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

Bob Scratchitt was an expert in his chosen field of

glassmaking. For the majority of his works, he used four
different colors of glass, which were installed into small
square arrangements. There were essentially six different
arrangements, but by allowing rotations there were actually
24 varieties of tile available. This worked out very well,
because Bob had just had an order for a new stained glass
window from the Earl of Featherstonehaugh...

BrrnR
HBHE
KHKHEH
HEBHHE
BOB'S SQUARE PANELS
There are six different

designs in each of
four rotations.

Window shield
Bob wants to fit all 24 of his stained glass panels into the window
frame shown on the right. The middle square cannot be used
because the Earl of Featherstonehaugh's coat of arms will go there
later. All touching squares must share matching colors, domino-
fashion. In addition, each outer edge of the window must have
a single color, and there must be a different color for each edge.
Make your own set of Bob's tiles (see cut-out on page 123) and
use the 5x5 board on page 61 . Can you satisfy Bob's demands?

ANSWER page 93
 ANY WHICH WAY 61
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

STAINED CLASS
WINDOW FRAME
Fit the stained glass panels
in here.

Square deal Open exercise

This colorful domino game works best with two What is the smallest number of tiles needed to block
players. the board so that no further play is possible with any
remaining tile?
Set-up

7
You'll need a set of 24 square tiles and a 5 x 5 grid.
Lay the tiles facedown and mix them up.

How to play
Did you know...
Glass is sometimes considered
1 The first player picks up a tile and places it to be a liquid. The different
anywhere on the board. Of;
■ ingredients in the glass are in
2 Players take turns playing a tile on the board.
a supercooled suspension, rather
There are two rules: The tile you play must touch than having the firm chemical bonds
at least one previously played square, and all of a usual solid. The different colors
edges of neighboring tiles must match in color. of
of glass are obtained by adding
oxides of iron (red), copper (green),
Winning oxi
or cobalt (blue).
The first player unable to place his tile loses or
the game.
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
PICTURE WINDOW

Bob Scratchitt (see pages 60-61) has If Bob can choose each color only once for
recently diversified into hexagonal pieces each hexagon, then there are 6 x 5 x 4 = 120
of glass. By good fortune more than skill raw combinations. However, a piece of glass
(by accidentally spilling a jar of metal filings), can be rotated and turned over, which reduces
he's found that certain ingredients in his glass the possibilities to the 20 different hexagons
now allow a greater range of colors — six, you see here.
to be precise.

Hexagons or cubes?
Bob has designed this window
incorrectly — his 20 hexagon
designs can't fit into the 19
available spaces shown on page
63. Can you mock up your own
set of Bob's hexagonal tiles (see
cut-out on page 125) and work
out a way for any 19 of them to
fit into the window frame? The
edges of adjacent pieces must
match colors. You'll understand
the reasoning behind the title for
this puzzle once you get going.

ANSWER page 94

DDDDD
BOB'S HEXAGONAL TILES
Bob's new range of designs and colors.
 ANY WHICH WAY
PICTURE WINDOW

Window war
This game can be played with two or more players. 2 If a player places a tile in such a way that it is
adjacent to an existing piece, the touching edges
Set-up must be the same color.
You will need a set of 20 hexagonal pieces and the Winning
19-space window grid shown on this page. Lay the
tiles facedown and shuffle them. Anyone who cannot make a legal move has lost and
must drop out of the game. They should replace their
How to play unplayed tile facedown in the reserve and mix it up
1 Players take turns to pick a tile and place it with the others. Continue playing until there is only
anywhere on the board. (It does not need to be one person left — the winner.
adjacent to an existing tile.)

STAINED CLASS WINDOW FRAME

Fit the hexagon designs in here.
64 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
DISCO DISCOLORATION

Groovy Stu is very excited by his new business venture

"Back 2 the 70s," a retro disco nightclub. "Tell me man,
how do you want the floor panels?" hollered the chief
workman fitting out the disco. "Chill, man," said Stu, "I've
got a fabulicious design in mind. They don't call me Groovy
Stu for nothing."

v/n^v/7 n □ n

Dance floor dominoes

Here are the 16 square lighting panels Stu will be using for the floor
of his nightclub. Arrange all 16 squares in a 4 x 4 array, obeying the
domino principle — that is, all edges must match colors like for like. Use
the square tile cut-outs on page 127.

HINT There is a better way to solve this than trial

and error. Try to discover how the patterns work.

ANSWER page 94
 ANY WHICH WAY
DISCO DISCOLORATION

A A J^

DDIDD
DJ display
These four lighting panels will be used behind the DJ booth. This time
the sides of each square are colored using six different colors. The panels
will be laid out in different ways so that it is possible to form a
continuous zigzag line of the same color through the row of four squares
(see small schematic). This can be done for five of the six colors. For
which one of the six colors is this zigzag impossible? You may find it
helpful to copy and color in your own version (see cut-out on page 127).

ANSWER page 94

Drive time
On Monday, Stu drove from his bachelor pad at 7:30 p.m. and arrived
at the nightclub at 1 1 :00 p.m. After a wild and crazy party, he left the
nightclub on Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. and (via a cab using the same
route) arrived back home at 11:45 p.m. What are the chances that, at
exactly the same time on Monday and Tuesday, Stu was at the same
point along the road?

ANSWER page 94
66 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
VENERABLE BEADS

Jackie sells custom-built necklaces from her Internet web site,

reallyreallynicenecklaces.com. Because her necklaces are so really,
really nice, she receives orders from around the world. Customers
can choose which configuration of beads they want — either all red,
all yellow, or a specific mixture of the two.

o 00«0 Sixth form

Jackie noticed during her work
that the number of different
designs was not obvious. Because
necklaces can be rotated or turned
over, many of the possible designs
& are not unique. The different

dtA 888*8
designs achievable with up to five
beads are shown. Use the blank
diagram to work out how many
are possible with six beads. You
may not need to use all 15
diagrams.

ANSWER page 94

&&£:
Guess what?
How many different necklace
designs do you think Jackie could
manufacture if each necklace were
to contain a total of 20 beads in

at most two colors? Don't work it

out — just have a guess.

ANSWER page 94

THE NECKLACE-COLORING
PROBLEM
 ANY WHICH WAY 67
VENERABLE BEADS

Seventh heaven
Johnny, Jackie's main competitor,
sells jewelry through his web site,
veryverygoodbrooches.com. His
heptagonal designs are quite
popular. Again, each of the seven
triangles of each brooch can be
one of two possible colors. How
many brooch designs are possible
given that the brooches are
reversible (they can be turned
over)? Use the diagrams to help
you — some of them might not
be needed.

ANSWER page 94

A ▲

THE BROOCH-COLORING
PROBLEM
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
KNIGHT, KNIGHT

7
Chess has survived since the 6th
century ad, and over the years chess Did you know...
pieces have been made in many forms and Chess has hit the headlines in
materials. Originally known as Chaturanga
recent years thanks to IBM's
> (the army game), chess spread to Europe computer Deep Blue. In 1997,

0 some time between 700 and 900. In the

Middle Ages, the game was played
this machine defeated reigning

2 according to the Muslim rules wherein the

champion Garry Kasparov in
a rematch, using 256 micro-
queen and bishop were weaker than they
E are now because they could only move
processors that analyzed more
than 100 million chess positions
D one square at a time.
0 every single second. Some
unusual chess terminology: a bad

In mathematical terms, chess is a "perfect bishop (a bishop hemmed in by

111 >■ information" game because both sides pawns of its own color), pins and
skewers (forms of attack), and
know everything about the opponent's
position and how they reached it. a zugzwang (when a player is
<
(Compare this with poker, in which
2 you don't know your opponent's cards.)
disadvantaged by having to make •
a move).
This makes it much easier for people
and computers to work out the best line
of attack.

On guard
Sir Prancealot of Wessex was getting anxious. Sir Prancealot's troops had gathered at the
Never the most courageous of knights, he'd strategically important location of Puddleby-on-
called all his fellow men out on a full-scale alert the-Marsh, which contains lots of arable land. His
(and on a Sunday lunchtime too) when he heard knights can occupy a square, and simultaneously
that Padrick of Cork and his ruffians were coming protect up to eight squares as if they were a
to invade. chess knight (see separate box on page 69).
a How many knights would Sir Prancealot need
if each square in a 3 x 3 square area had to
contain or be protected by at least one knight?
b How many knights would be needed to
protect a 4 x 4 area?
c How can five knights protect a 5 x 5 area?
D What about eight knights protecting
a 6 x 6 area?
e Place ten knights to guard a 7 x 7 area.
F Finally, suppose Sir Prancealot became
paranoid and wanted to cover an 8 x 8 area with
his men. Can it be done using just 12 knights?
(Use the 8 x 8 chessboard on the opposite page
if this helps.)

ANSWER page 94
 MAKE YOUR MOVE 69
KNIGHTr KNIGHT

Knight tracks
Sir Prancealot's troops waited, and
waited. . .and waited some more.

The enemy hadn't arrived, so they

would have to go searching for
them instead. Sir P. sent his chief
knight on the lookout with two
conditions. First, the knight had to
walk directly from the center of
one square to another, as if a
chess knight were going "as the
crow flies." Secondly, the
conditions are so boggy that the
knight must not cross his previous
path lest the ground give way.
a Starting the knight from the
center of any chosen square,
verify that the knight can only
make two trips on a 3 x 3 square
field before he is forced to cross
his previous path.
b What is the greatest number
of trips the knight can make on
a 4 x 4 board?
c Find a route that allows the
knight to make ten trips on a Big knight out
5x5 board. What is the greatest number of knights that can be
d How can the knight make 16 placed on a 7 x 7 chess board so that no two attack
trips on a 6 x 6 board? each other?
E Discover a circular route of 24
consecutive jumps for a 7 x 7 ANSWER page 95
board without crossing your

7
tracks.

F What's the longest route

you can find for an 8 x 8 board? Do you know...
How does a chess knight
A 35-move route is possible. make its moves? It can
move in up to eight
different ways by

tBi
ANSWER page 95
moving two squares
orthogonally
immediately followed by
^■"^r^
a one-square sidestep,
as shown here.
70 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
ON TOUR

All aboard," shouted Tom Crook, travel

agent to royalty, as the golden carriage
rolled up to the palace steps. "I hope you're
going to give us the grand tour," sniffed the
queen, "since all my royal subjects deserve
7 Did you know...
The classic design for modern chess
sets is based on an 1835 design by
the Englishman Nathaniel Cook. The
patented design was endorsed by
the chance to pay their respects to their
the world's best player at the time,
ruler." "But only after we do a full security Howard Staunton, and all
check first, ma'am," warned Major Rook. "No international competitions today
worries," comforted Tom, "and yes, Your must be played using chess sets in
Grace, we'll be visiting your dioceses too. the Staunton pattern.
Now let's get going, shall we?"

The rook's tour

Before the queen visits all 64 areas
of her domain, Major Rook
demands that he do a full security
check. Rook moves horizontally or
vertically as far as he likes.
a How can Rook cover the entire
board and return to his start position
in just 16 moves? He can start
wherever he likes, but must visit
each square only once.
b How can Rook start at the top
left corner, and enter every square
of the board just once, finishing at
the bottom right corner? It is
possible once you know the trick!

ANSWER page 95

From A to B
Suppose a knight started at one
corner of an 8 x 8 chessboard.
Would it be possible for the knight
to visit every other square and end
up at the corner opposite the start
position?

ANSWER page 95
 MAKE YOUR MOVE 71
ON TOUR

The bishop's tour The queen's tour

Dr. White, the bishop, needed to visit his 32 dioceses "This way, your majesty," said Tom Crook as he
by traveling through them all diagonally. As such, His ushered the queen to the top left white corner
Grace is confined to the squares of his color (besides, square. "I'll wait here for you while you do your
he wouldn't want to invade Reverend Black's patch). rounds." "Very well," sniffed the queen, "I shall
He may move as far as he wishes in a straight line at return to this square once I've visited each of my 64
each move. How can Dr. White visit all 32 squares in regions." The queen can move in a straight line in
17 moves? The start and end points should be any of the eight directions. How can she tour the
obvious, and squares can be revisited if necessary. entire board in just 14 moves, ending back at the top
left corner? Because no one will refuse the queen
ANSWER page 95 an audience, she can visit squares more than once.

ANSWER page 95

The knight's tours

These beautiful drawings are formed by drawing the route taken by a
knight doing a complete tour of the chessboard, then coloring the areas
thus created.

The grand tour

The knight's tours illustrated in these diagrams involve the knight ending
up at the square it started from. Is this possible on a 5 x 5 chessboard?
6 x 6? 7 x 7? Why?

ANSWER page 95
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
CHESSBOARD STANDOFF

'No
'An,d you
whatget
'f*et out of my way," snarled the Red Queen.
Vjout of my way," snorted the White Queen.
on earth are all these other queens doing here?" The arrival of
several of the most important chess pieces on the same board
wasn't a particularly well-planned piece of diplomacy by the
Master of the Board. Clearly, some clever positioning was
going to be needed to keep the queens from attacking each
other...

Chessboard standoff
On a 4 x 4 chessboard, only four queens can
be placed so that no queen attacks another
(see black squares on diagram).
a Place five queens on a 5 x 5 board so that
no two lie in the same row, column, or any
diagonal. (Use coins or counters on the board
below to help you.)
B Now try six queens on a 6 x 6 board.
C How about seven queens on a 7 x 7
board?
D Finally, can you place eight queens on the
large 8x8 board? Once you've found one
solution, see if you can do it again so that
there are no queens on the two main
(longest) diagonals.

ANSWERS page 95

Chessboard jigsaw
Angered by her latest defeat, the Black
Queen has banished the two white corners
from the chessboard, leaving just 62 squares.
Furthermore, she has ordered her pawns to
cut up the remainder of the board into 31
individual 2x1 strips to ensure that no one
can beat her again. Can the pawns
accomplish this feat? If so, how? If not,
why not?

ANSWER page 95
 MAKE YOUR MOVE
CHESSBOARD STANDOFF

A right royal mess

After a while, the queens were becoming more
sociable. They were prepared to allow themselves to
be under attack from exactly one other queen, so
long as every queen agreed to this condition
unanimously. You can see the result of this
arrangement here — note how each and every queen
is under attack from one, and only one, other queen.
A Suppose the queens relax further. How can the
Master of the Board arrange 14 queens on the 8x8
board so that every queen is under attack from
exactly two others?
B How can 16 queens be arranged so that every
queen is under attack from exactly three others? (This
is actually very easy.) Can you better 16 queens?
c For the grand finale, place 21 queens on the
board so that every queen is attacked by exactly
four others.

ANSWERS page 96

The world's best

chess puzzle
If you know how to play chess,
you'll appreciate this chess
problem set by Sam Loyd, which
takes some beating. In a chess
problem, you are given a set-up
board and an aim. In this case, the
aim is to play white and check-
mate in five moves, no matter
what moves the black player
chooses to make. We'll start you
off: White (playing up the board)
moves first and moves the b2
pawn to b4. (Hint: This piece is
very important.) Black is forced to
move the rook at c8 down to c5
to stop the path of rook at b5
(why? — because b5 to d5 to d1
guarantees a checkmate within
two more turns). Now complete
the remaining four turns.

ANSWER page 96
74 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
RIGHT THIS WAY

"^venin' sir, where to? Le Gavroche

C restaurant, no problem — on our way.
Have you seen the roadworks around here
lately? The number of diversions we've
E had this week is driving me round the
h twist. Just up here on the right. There you
III go, that'll be 14 royal portraits please.
Oh, that's very kind of you, sir. By the
0 way, you'll never guess who I had in the
hi back of my cab last week. . . "
0
Q
K
ui There or roundabouts
5 Here, our London cabbie has a complex
roundabout to negotiate. Following the arrows
at all times, how many different valid ways are
there of going from A to B?

ANSWER page 96

Congestion calamity
This time, the cab driver is trying to

v v follow a complex set of one-way signs

thanks to various roadworks currently
in progress. Following the specified
diversions at all times, how many
different valid ways are there of getting
from A to B? Can you find a logical
method of solving these problems
without having to count every
single route?

ANSWER page 96
 WEIRD GEOMETRY
RIGHT THIS WAY

Hungry Horace
At the end of a hectic day, Horace the cab driver needs to drive straight
home by the shortest route (i.e., south or east at all times). But because
he is so hungry, he would like to visit a Sloppy Joe's Drive-Thru for some
sustenance along the way. Luckily there are seven branches of Sloppy
Joe's in the area. In order to avoid too much delay, he doesn't want to
drive through two SJ's. So the puzzle is: How many ways are there of
driving from his current position to home via the shortest route, going
via exactly one branch of Sloppy Joe's?

ANSWER page 96

home

II55J = Sloppy Joe's

76 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
TAXICAB GEOAAETRY

M ey buddy, welcome to New York. Where ya headin' to?

ni Okay, Macy's it is. That's not too far — six blocks south
and four blocks west. What's that, you say? Yeah, the city
center is laid out in a grid system, saves people getting lost.
There you go — that's 18 bucks please, buddy."

Fare's fair
Suppose you started your journey
o
at point A and you wanted the
New York cab driver to take you
to point B by the shortest route
possible. In other words, the taxi
driver must always drive south or
west from every junction.
a How many ways are there of
the taxi taking you from A to B
by the most economical route
with a stopover at Central Park
(point C)?
B How many ways are there of
going from A to B by any shortest
route?

HINT You can use a trick from the I:

previous pages to work out this
problem. Can you see a pattern in the
numbers thus created?

ANSWER page 97

o
NEW YORK MAP
How many different routes are there from A to B
by the shortest possible route?
 WEIRD GEOMETRY 77
TAXICAB GEOMETRY

Taxicab geometry
This grid represents a large-scale map of New York. b On the grid, draw a "square" with four sides of six
Suppose a cab driver could follow only the lines (the blocks in length. Remember always to draw along
streets, never through the blocks. Are different
"streets"). We call this "taxicab geometry," because
it produces very different results from those you solutions possible?
would normally expect, as these three exercises show: c In normal 2-D geometry, it would be impossible
A In normal (Euclidean) geometry, a circle is defined to draw a triangle with sides of 14, 8, and 6 units.
as a line connecting all the points that are a fixed (Why?) Try doing it in taxicab geometry.
distance from a given point. If our taxi driver began
ANSWER page 97
in the middle of the grid, what would a "circle" with
a radius of three blocks (squares) look like? Try circles
of other radii.

GRID FOR TAXICAB GEOMETRY

78 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
SPIDERIA/EBS

The ancient Greeks allowed only straight lines and circles

in their geometry. But with a little imagination, even
these simple elements can be used to create beautiful and
unusual designs.

The circle line

Draw a circle, and divide its circumference into
36 equal parts at intervals of 10 degrees (use a
protractor). Draw in a diameter of the circle —
that is, a line joining one of these marked
points to the point exactly opposite.
You are now going to draw a kind of
spider's web, by moving this diameter. Move
the top end one mark clockwise; but move
the bottom end two marks clockwise. Join
these marks. Now repeat, and continue until
you get back to where you started from,
always moving one end one mark and the
other end two marks. You will find that you
have created a heart-shaped curve called a
cardioid (above left).

Now that you've got the hang of this, what

happens if you move the top end of the
diameter by one mark (as before), but you
move the bottom end by three marks? You
obtain a kidney-shaped curve called a
nephroid (below left).

Try these on your own:

a Move the top end of the diameter by two
marks and the bottom end by three. You
should obtain a buttercup curve (ranunculoid).
b Move the top end of the diameter by one
mark and the bottom end by four marks,
c Move the top end of the diameter by two
marks and the bottom end by five marks.
 WEIRD GEOMETRY 79
SPIDERWEBS

The drunken spider

If the spider is drunk, it will weave its
web in circles instead of straight lines.
This leads to new possibilities for
designs. As before, draw a base circle
(the thick black line) and mark it into
36 equal segments, 10 degrees per
segment. Also, mark a home point
somewhere on the diagram.
Now take a pair of compasses and
place the needle on one of the points
on the base circle, and open the
compasses so that the pencil lead just
touches the home point. Draw this
circle. Remove the compasses, and
repeat with all the other points on the
base circle. Note how every circle will
have its center on the base circle and
includes the home point somewhere
on its circumference.

When you've finished, you'll have

created a limacon (above left).
Changing the location of the home
point gives different shapes, as you
can see (left).

OPEN EXERCISE

Try a home point that lies on the base

circle. Do you recognize the curve?
80 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
HAVE YOUR CAKE AND...

Cath's Crazy Cakes has been

providing after-dinner
confectionery to the good people of
Greenchester for over ten years. Cath is
well known for her use of unusual eye-
catching Art Deco-style designs. Never
have lines and circles been so tasty.
Unfortunately, Cath's fridge is getting
on in years and today's the day it's
finally going to snap...

Cake calamity
The thermostat in Cath's fridge had given up
the ghost. So, when she came in one
Monday she found that her beautiful square,
decorated cakes had become somewhat
misshapen. In particular, the frosting had
melted badly. For each of the three cakes
pictured, can you say which one had the
original square design shown above it?

ANSWER page 97

7 Did you know...

There is a whole branch of
mathematics that examines knots.
Knot theory is a branch of
topology that has many unsolved
problems. A knot may be thought
of as a loop of rubber that can be
twisted, stetched, or otherwise
deformed in ordinary three-
dimensional space, but not torn.
Two knots are said to be equivalent
if one can be deformed into the
other. A complete set of
characteristics that is sufficient to
distinguish all knots has not been
devised. However, the science has
many practical applications,
including the study of complex
chemical molecules such as DNA.
 MAP MADNESS 81
HAVE YOUR CAKE AND . . .

Dough handcuffs
Cath was playing with some stretchy bread dough in
her shop. She first made a design such as the one
shown near right, which resemble some linked
handcuffs. She then played around with the dough,
deforming it but without making or filling in any
holes. She found, to her surprise, that she could
unlink the cuffs just by deforming the dough. See if
you can do the same, either with some modeling clay
or just using your mind's eye.

ANSWER page 97

7
Frosting on the cake
Cath always knew that she needed at most four Did you know...
colors of frosting to complete any of the geometric To a topologist, a donut and a
designs on her cakes. Above are three cakes that teacup with a handle are essentially
have been designed but haven't yet been frosted. the same thing because they both
Cath frosts her cakes so that no two areas sharing a have one hole. If you make a teacup
border have the same color. Can you work out the out of rubber or modeling clay,
smallest number of colors of frosting needed to cover you can gradually transform
each of these cakes completely? it into a donut without sealing
or creating any holes — this is why
ANSWER page 98 topology is sometimes called
"rubber sheet" geometry. Note that
for something to be a hole, you
must be able to thread right through
it. The bit where the tea goes is
therefore not a hole.
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
PAINTING BY NUMBERS

Charlie Satchel is an esteemed collector of new wave British

modern art, and a particular fan of the Mondrian style.
It was with some delight, therefore, that he discovered a
young artist named Hamish Durst working in the backwaters
of Islington in London. Durst's latest four paintings are stark
and geometrical, but Satchel insisted that he color them
because they would be more valuable that way. But is it art?

Modern art
Durst got out his paintbox to
start the process of coloring in
his black and white paintings.
But how many colors would
he need?

a For each of the paintings

shown, what is the least
number of colors required to
cover each canvas such that
no two adjacent areas have
the same color?
b Can you prove your
answer? In other words, can
you provide a logical,
reasoned argument as to why
your answer is correct?

ANSWER page 98
 MAP MADNESS
PAINTING BY NUAABERS

Winning
Brams' map-coloring game
This more advanced map-coloring game is named for
its inventor, Steven Brams. If the maximizer cannot play a valid move using any
of the five pens, the maximizer wins. If the entire
Set-up diagram is completed correctly (no two adjacent areas
Using a black pen, draw any map you like, such as are the same color), the minimizer wins.
the example given here. You will also need five or six
colored pens or pencils. Advanced version

Once you've got the hang of the game, try a more

How to play complicated map with more areas and use six colored
Players take turns to color any blank area of the map, pens instead of five.
always obeying the rule that areas with a common
border must not be the same color.

Aim

player 1 is the minimizer. This player's aim is to

ensure that the entire map has been colored with five
or fewer colors.

player 2 is the maximizer. This player's aim is to

use as many different colors as possible. However, if a
valid move is possible, this player is forced to make it.

Winning Brams' game

Suppose you were playing the Brams' game
on this pentagonal map with five colored
pens. How could you force a win playing as
the maximizer? In other words, what tactic
could you employ to ensure that, no matter
what moves the minimizer made, you
would win?

HINT The third dimension is useful.

ANSWER page 98
84 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
COLORING THE COLONY

Sir Frederick Featherstonehaugh and Lord "Nonsense," retorted Lord Bertram.

Bertram of Buckley were arguing over the "The 14th Fusiliers would have seen us
course of history. "Had Mafeking gone the through." Both gentlemen reached for their
other way, you see, it could have all been so napkins and started jotting down their plans
for world domination.
much different," claimed Sir Frederick.

World domination — Part 1

Sir Frederick drew the diagram on the left to
demonstrate the rigid structure in which the
northern hemisphere should have been divided up.
"To prevent any one empire getting too much
power," said Sir F. as he twitched his mustache as
if to signal a masterstroke, "we'd separate them
into two different areas."
How could Sir Frederick colonize his map
using 12 colors (each one used in exactly two
areas) so that no two adjacent empires are the
same color? The catch is that each color is
treated as the same empire: So, for example, if
the first area of your yellow empire borders red
and dark green, the other yellow empire (which is
elsewhere on the map) must not border a red or
dark green area either.

ANSWER page 98

World domination — Part 2

Lord Bertram quietly choked at Sir Frederick's
insolence. "I rather think, dear chap, that the world
will be somewhat more organic. And moreover, the
growth of travel will mean that the communities will
be much more widespread."
How can Lord Bertram use 18 colors (or, if you
prefer, numbers) so that no two adjacent empires
are the same color? This time each color (or number)
must have three separate areas that are all treated
as the same empire: So, for example, if your first
two yellow areas collectively touch red, pale green,
dark blue, and black, the third area of the yellow
empire cannot border those colors. We have started
you off — you have eight colors (numbers 1 to 8)
to complete.

ANSWER page 98
 MAP MADNESS
COLORING THE COLONY

Galactic domination
After rather too many glasses
of Port, Lord Bertram and Sir
Frederick were now fighting over
how Mars should be colonized
4 8
in the future. "The way I see it,"
snorted the lord, "is that if a
group has two separate 7
settlements on Earth, they
should also be separate on 3 9
Mars." The knight nodded 10
sagely in agreement. 6
Regions with the same number 2
must be colored the same on
Earth and on Mars. So, for
example, if you choose yellow
for 1, both the 1 areas must
be yellow. You may use a color for
more than one number, but 11
at no time may any two areas
of the same color share a border Earth
on either planet.
For example, while areas 2 and
8 are not adjacent on the map of
Earth, they cannot be given the
same color because they are
adjacent on Mars. The challenge is
to color both maps entirely using
the fewest possible colors.

hint The answer is at least eight.

ANSWER page 98

/Wars
86 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
GET LOST

One of the most famous maze legends concerns the

paradigmatic Labyrinth of King Minos of Crete,
built by Daedalus to house the Minotaur. Theseus
W found his way out by using a ball of golden thread. It is
LU doubtful that this maze, said to have been situated near
N Knossos, ever existed, although it was represented on
< coins. However, other real mazes have existed for more
2 than 4,000 years.

Maze connections
Amazingly (sorry!), all early labyrinths
consisted of just one winding path. They
were used as a recreational or spiritual path
along which you could walk while meditating,
for instance. It is only in the past few
centuries that the concept of a puzzle maze,
with a choice of routes, has emerged.
From the mathematical standpoint, there
are only two categories of puzzle maze. The
next time you are in a life-size maze, try this
experiment. Place your hand on the left-hand
(or right-hand) wall and keep walking
forward. No matter what happens, keep
walking without letting go of the wall, and let
your hand guide you. The chances are that
this method will usually get you to the middle
but not necessarily by the shortest route. This
type of maze is described as simply
connected, because all the walls are
connected to one another.
If the maze designer is particularly sneaky,
he will use a multiply connected design.
Here, the "hand on the wall" technique
doesn't work because some of the walls
are effectively free-standing — that is, not
connected to the outer walls. Try using
the hand on the wall method on these
two mazes.

TWO TYPES OF MAZE

Top: a simply connected maze
Right: a multiply connected maze
 MAZES 87
GET LOST

MAZE PROBLEM

Help Theseus
to escape one
more time.
•

Door to door
Who was... Daedalus?
>

Can you help Theseus escape through this

He was a mythical Greek architect maze? The catch is that he must run through
who was said to have built many every door once, and never retrace any part of
his route.
structures, including King Minos's
labyrinth. After an argument,

I
Daedalus was imprisoned by Minos, ANSWER page 98
so to escape he made wings of wax
and feathers for himself and Icarus,
his son. Unfortunately, Icarus flew
too near the sun, his wings melted,
and he drowned in the sea.
88 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
ANSWERS

The impossible domino The classic T-puzzle pace 6 From X to Y pace 7

(0 bridge problem pace 5 This is how the pieces fit together correctly.
Replace X and Y with (°)C and (°)F

H Use two extra dominoes as respectively. In Celsius and Fahrenheit

supports (as shown) then pull temperature terms, 10CC = 50°F and so on.
111 them away once the structure has
been built.
Speed demon pace 7
By sneezing!

z Cheating the heating pace 7

Turning down the radiators in the room that
< contains the central heating thermostat will
make the heating turn on sooner, so the rest
of the house will become warmer.

The square game pace 6

In this exercise you were invited to draw a Get the point? page 7
square. Typically, when invited to do such a Ten, including the white arrow that can be
simple task, we think of doing the "usual" seen pointing in the opposite direction from
thing, that is: all the others.

Take the pen that I've been given and put

it in my hand (usually my right hand) and
draw a square (a four-sided geometric Animal magic pace 7
object) on the only piece of paper that was Elephant (some of the letters have to be
available to me.
turned upside-down).
The horse-and-rider Creativity and lateral thinking are all about
breaking these conventions. When first
problem pace 5 presented with this exercise, most people Very handy pace 7
The trick is to place the riders so draw about eight squares of varying sizes Two — if one is the wrong kind of
that one horse's head matches up and maybe a couple more squares on the handedness, simply turn that rubber glove
with the other horse's rear! diagonal. But there are plenty more ways of inside-out.
achieving the set task than that. If alternative
solutions don't come naturally out of thin air,
you can still be creative by analyzing the Rural areas pace 10
process logically, breaking down the steps A The farmer can form 1 1 regions using
then thinking of ways of performing each 4 fences.
step differently:
B 16 regions are possible with 5 fences.
■ I need to draw something. I have a pen,
but what other pens could I use? Where C Writing out the results so far as a number
could I obtain these from? Could I draw series, we get: 1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16. In other
words, we add one, then add two, then add
something without a pen? What about three ... and so on.
using lipstick?
■ Instead of putting the pen into my hand, D The key to finding a formula for this series
what other parts of my body or tools could is the pattern 0x1, 1x2, 2x3, 3x4, 4x5, 5x6
I use? etc. This gives us 0, 2, 6, 12, 20, 30... which,
if we halve the results, is already very close:
The circles-coloring ■ Is there something I could change about
0, 1, 3, 6, 10. 15... If we just add one to
problem pace 6 the way I draw? Could I make a square
every term, we obtain our desired series.
The color of each circle depends smaller, or larger, or draw it at an angle? What we have done is take a number,
on the number of other circles it Could I use dotted lines, press the pen down
harder, or draw in perspective? multiply it by the next largest whole number,
is touching. divide the result by two then add one.
Therefore, if Farmer Giles has n fences
■ When I think of the word "square," I
normally think of a four-sided geometric available, the number of crops he can grow is
object. What other definitions are there of given by the formula (n x (n +1))/2 + 1.
the word "square?" e.g., square number, This problem is one of the simplest in
Times square, an unfashionable person, the a branch of mathematics known as
words "A SQUARE." combinatorial geometry. There is a
■ I need to draw something but not fascinating interplay between shapes and
necessarily on the piece of paper Could I numbers. A great many variations on the
draw on someone else's paper? Could I use theme are possible.
a flipchart? Draw it on my hand (I can
always wash it off)? On someone else's shirt
(I can always buy them a nicer one)? Draw it
on a steamed- up window? Draw an
imaginary square in the air?
■ Am I really on my own here? No one
actually said that I couldn't ask other people
for suggestions.
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 89
ANSWERS

De-fence-less pace 11 add the fifth line, there is no reason why it Nine areas page 14
can't cross all of the previous four, and so The key to this is to do what management

m
Farmer Gill's three sizes of triangles are on for any number you choose.
shown below. consultants say they do: think outside the
The series 1 , 3, 6, 10, 15, 21 .. .is known
as triangular numbers. Can you see why? If box. If you didn't see how to solve it, you've
run head first into a conceptual block, and a
not, get some coins or counters of the same typical one: the tendency to take too narrow
size and try arranging them. The formula a view of the problem. Are you assuming

M^
that generates the number of welds for n that the lines must be horizontal or vertical?
strips is ^n(n - 1). Certainly, that's how the dots naturally
arrange themselves. . .but nobody said the
lines had to go in any particular direction.
Art deco-ration page 13
Diagonals would provide new possibilities.
Any valid solution would do fine, although
Then again, although the square of dots
This arrangement, a little like the Star of the solution illustrated boasts an impressive
1 1 triangles. has a natural square boundary, nothing in the
David on the Israeli flag, does the trick.
problem says that your lines have to stay
within that boundary. Mental walls. . .
The great value of an insight is that, once
gained, it may be applied, as a general rule,
to other similar problems. The solution is
shown below as a solid line.

Pizza palaver page 11

Cut the pizza into quarters, then stack the
quarters into a pile. The final cut through
the stack creates the eight identical pieces Gone to pot page 13
required. There are three other possible arrangements,
as shown here.

Cutting the cake page n

Your first cut would cut the cake into two
pieces. Your second straight cut, at best, can
cut these into a total of four pieces. Likewise,
your third straight cut creates eight pieces. It
Sneaky solution page 14
The method is shown as a dotted line on the
doesn't matter how you rearrange the cake — Nine areas solution above.
a straight knife can cut a straight-edged
piece of cake into only two pieces at best.
Twelve areas page 15
Weld done page 12 Two different types of diagonal line are
needed for this one. Five lines are needed
Each new strip of lead line adds one more
in total.
weld (intersection) than the last piece of
lead added. In table form:
LINES INTERSECTIONS TOTAL
2 1 1
3 1 + 2 3
4 1+2 + 3 10
6
5 1+2 + 3+4 15
6 1+2+3+4+5
7 1+2 + 3+4 + 5+6 21
Why does this work? For each new line
added, all that is necessary is for it to avoid
passing through the previous intersections, Sixteen areas page 15
and to avoid being Two different types of diagonal line are also
parallel to any of the needed for this solution.
previous lines Despite
these conditions, this Did you know?
means that out of the Where did the An(n - 1) formula come from? Let's call the
infinite number of triangle number formed from n lines T(n). When we had five
possible lines we could lines, we added together 1+2 + 3+4. Therefore, by definition,
add, there are still T(n) = 1 + 2 + 3 +...+ (n-2) + (n - 1). Writing that backwards
many that could work. (no reason we can't), T(n) = (n-1) + (n-2)+...+ 3 + 2 + 1.
Hence, it is indeed Adding those two equations together gives us: 2 T(n) = n + n +
possible to make each . ..+ n + n. That's 2 T(n) = n - 1 lots of n, or n x (n - 1). Dividing
line meet all the both sides of the equation by 2 gives us T(n) = '/n(n - 1).
others So. when we
90 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
ANSWERS

Bridge the gaps page 16 A new angle page 19 Deluxe jewelry page 22
No. it is not possible to cross all seven By drawing the triangle on a sphere. Suppose The number of wires is 1, 3, 6, 10, 15... so
bridges only once each. Euler solved this the Earth was perfectly round. If you drew a we add + 1 , + 2, + 3, + 4, + 5. . .each time.
problem by replacing the real map with a line from the North Pole to the equator, then Therefore the series will continue 21, 28,
topological equivalent. He then postulated a quarter of the way around the equator, 36. . .and so on. These are the triangular
that you could complete the journey only if then back to the North Pole, the line would numbers, which we met in the answer to
there were either 0 or 2 places where an odd have turned 90 degrees at each stage.
number of routes meet. Since the Kbnigsberg Therefore the total of all three angles is 270
bridges area has four junctions with an odd degrees. This is called a trirectangular Runes page 22
number of lines, no solution can exist. page 12.
triangle. A triangle's angles total 180 degrees There are 12 possibilities with five clasps and
only when it is on a flat plane.
60 possible designs with six clasps. Suppose
we numbered the clasps from 1 to 6. If
At a stroke page 17 Janice draws the black line design around
For the general rule, consider this: There are
1 00% proof page 20
clasps 1, 3, 4, 6, 5, 2 (and back to 1) this is
essentially two different types of journey: (a) Cutting the smallest square into pieces allows the same as the design 6, 5, 2, 1, 3, 4 (and
ones we start and end at the same place, and us to reassemble it with the middle-sized back to 6) because they are the same loop,
(b) ones we end at a different place from shape to form the larger square. Since the just starting at a different point. So we need
where we started. In case (a), every junction square whose side is the hypotenuse has concern ourselves only with five points of the
exactly the same area as the two other squares route and can assume that all the loops start
must have an even number of "roads." This
is because for every junction we enter, we combined, we have proved the theorem. from the same point. At first there are five
have to be able to get out again so that we points to choose from, then four, then three,
can get back to our starting point. In case etc., so there are 5x4x3x2x1 =120
(b). we need even numbers of roads at every possibilities for six clasps. But, because each
intersection except for the start and finish design also looks the same when drawn
points, which must have odd numbers of backward, we need to halve this result,
which is where the answer 60 comes from.
roads. This is because we don't want to
return to the start point. For n clasps, the general formula is all the
So the general rule is: If a connected map numbers from 1 to (n - 1) multiplied
has 0 or 2 junctions where an odd number together then divided by 2. Mathematicians
of roads meet, it can be traversed. If there write this as (n - 1)1/2. The factorial symbol
are 0 odd junctions, you can start anywhere. ! represents the product of all the numbers.
If there are 2 odd junctions, those are your
start and finish points. Using this knowledge,
Galaxy game page 23
it's easy to see that the hot cross bun and One possible route is shown here:
diamond pattern (diagrams 1 and 4) can't
be traversed as they both have 4 odd
junctions. The envelope with flap (diagram 2)
Third base page 20
is possible as long as you start and finish If the two shorter sides of the triangle are 8
using the bottom corners because these are
and 17 units long, then 82 + 172 = x2, where
the two odd junctions. It is possible to
x is the number we seek. However, 82 + 172
complete the five-pointed star (diagram 3) = 353, and 353 doesn't have a square root
from anywhere. that is a whole number. Therefore, 17 must
be the length of the hypotenuse. In this case,
x2 + 82 = 17' = 289. Putting this another
Not impossible after all page m way, x2 = 289 - 64 = 225. The square root
Fold the page of the book and use the other of 225 is 15 (since 15x15 = 225), so the
side of the paper to get you out of sticky third side is 15 units long.
situations! Repeat as necessary until the
diagram is complete.
Pythagorean puzzle page 21
Here's how to arrange the pieces:
Child's play page 19
1 Scalene triangle — 1 way
2 Isosceles triangle — 2 ways
3 Parallelogram (slanted rectangle) — 2 ways The inventor of this puzzle. Sir William
4 Rhombus (slanted square) — 4 ways Rowan Hamilton, was born in Dublin in
5 Equilateral triangle — -6 ways 1805 and by the age of nine could speak
6 Square — 8 ways 13 different languages. He is best known in
7 Cross — 8 ways the fields of mathematics and astronomy.
8 Tetrahedron (pyramid) — 12 ways In 1828, he was made Astronomer Royal
9 Cube — 24 ways for Ireland. In the field of dynamics he
introduced Hamiltonian functions, which
Missing length page 19 express the sum of the kinetic and potential
energies of a moving object. They were
An isosceles triangle has two sides of equal
length (by definition) so the third side must important in the development of modern-
day quantum mechanics He originally sold
be 4 or 9 units long But it can't be 4 units the idea of his Hamilton game for £25
long, because you can't form a triangle with (about $38, which was about what $835 is
sides of 4, 4, and 9 units length (can you see worth today) in 1859.
why?) So the third side must be 9 units long.
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 91
ANSWERS

The utilities problem page 24 Lang time, no see page 26

If you try drawing a line from each house The best solution is to make the junctions
to each utility, you find that eight lines are join at 120 degrees, as shown here.
possible but the final ninth line is somewhat
trickier. Therefore, the problem seems
impossible. In mathematical terms, it is
indeed impossible to connect three nodes to
three nodes in every way possible without
the lines crossing. However, it is practically
possible if one of the home owners permits Squarea page 37
one wire or pipe to run under his house! If you refer back to the illustration in the
original Five-piece suite puzzle, you
will see that the central square is surrounded
Tangram challenges page 33
by four triangles and four quadrilaterals.
It is not difficult to see that, with a little
rearrangement, each triangle and
quadrilateral can be made to form a square
of the same size as the central one. In other
words, the 100 square units of area can be
divided up into five identical squares.
Electricity Therefore, each piece is 20 square units — and
that's the answer.

Off to work we go page 25 Number jig page 37

It is possible, as shown here: The answer to both questions is 999. This is
because each jigsaw piece needs to be
connected to one other piece or group of
pieces at some point.

A
Hexagon to triangle puzzle

H^^ffii
PAGE 38

Double tangram puzzle page 34

The two simplest solutions retain the pieces

E
in their original configuration because they
Upsizing page 25 form two more large triangles that complete
Yes. In fact, any number of workers can be the square. Six-pointed star puzzle page 38

<(h
<w
connected to the same number of offices
without their paths crossing. Try it and see
for yourself

Ground plan page 26

With three towns, there are three ways —
each town takes a turn to be the town in the
middle of the other two. As we know, there
are 16 ways for four towns. Noting the clue Five-piece suite page 37
about this being a "powerful" series, perhaps Here's how to create each shape. Stars puzzle page 39
the pattern goes:
The configuration of each star (using
3 to the power of 1 = 3 different colors) is:
4 to the power of 2 = 4x4 = 16
5 to the power of 3 = 5x5x5 = 1 25
6 to the power of 4 = 6x6x6x6=1 296
and so on
This is indeed the correct answer, so
Fifetons will have to consider 125 different
road layouts. The general formula is: n to the
power of n - 2. This even works for n = 2,
because 2 to the power of 0 is 1 (by
definition) and there is just one way of
connecting two towns together
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
ANSWERS

►n

H
Boxing clever page 41 Sequestrate the siblings page 45 Domino derby page 52
This is the best solution to date. These Each room can be divided into four as follows: Other solutions are possible

A
problems are fiendishly difficult to prove

nmC
outright, and until someone comes up with a
proof, there's always a possibility that
someone can come up with a better solution. ► ^

<

A
Ernie's enigma page 48
Here are the completed diagrams. There may
be other solutions for any particular case.

K
Now try making up your own puzzles — there
are around 50 known ways of placing the
^
A±
tiles together so that all edges match.
Patio ratio page 42
The solutions for even-numbered squares (2
x 2, 4 x 4. 6 x 6 etc.) should be obvious — it's
just four squares of the same size taking up ^ ►
one quarter of the area of each.
The solutions for the other, odd-numbered
sizes are as follows:
Domino rally page 53
Other solutions are possible.

3x3

How many bones? page 53

Open exercise page 49 There are seven different symbols (blank, 1 ,
Eight moves is the fewest possible. In the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) that have to appear eight times
diagram below, none of the leftover pieces
could be played in one of the eight (twice on a symbol's double, and once on the
11x11 other six pieces). 7 x 8 = 56. Each piece can
remaining spaces without breaking the rules
13x13 display two different symbols, so 56/2 = 28.
of the game. So there are 28 pieces in a standard set.

Separate the sisters page 44

W
The Lo-shu magic square page 54
With a bit of luck these designs will earn All rows, columns, and both diagonals add up
Mr Moore some peace and quiet.
to the magic number 15.

m
Hexabits puzzle page 51 4 9 2
This is one possible answer.

3 5 7
8 1 6
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
ANSWERS

A diabolic square page 54 The tricky eight page 56 Devilish dozen page 57
This is called a diabolic magic square because The trick is to use fractions, as shown. Note This is one of several possible solutions.
there are a diabolical number of ways of that the middle box must always be one-
getting the magic number (34). For example, third of the magic number, making the 10
the numbers in each quarter of the large middle 8-5-2 column easy to establish. '
square total 34. The middle 2x2 square totals ■ ■
34. Some broken diagonals such as 2-8-9-15 3 5 8 12
total 34. How many others can you find?
Incidentally, the 15 and 14 in the bottom 4!4 8 2!4 11
row denote the year that Durer created
7 2 4
his etching.
•
3 5 7 ■
That's odd page 57
7!4 2 Note how the odd numbers have a very
5!4 simple arrangement, as if in diagonal rows
of different lengths:

In the red page 56 10 18

The magic number is always three times the 14 1 22
7 central number (for 3x3 magic squares).
the middle number is 3, so the magic
Here 20
11 7 3 24
number must be 9. From here, it is easy to 13
4 15 14 1
work out the rest of the grid and deduce
negative numbers are required:
that 21 17 9 5
23 19 15 <
■16 6
2
25 12
8 4
Latin square of order 5 page 55
One way is shown below. (It should be noted
that Euler's Latin squares were not concerned
Postman's knock page 59
with long diagonals. However, the squares Given that "the number of houses does not
were the basis of an important area of
matter," you can assume there are two
mathematics called group theory.) houses. The postman will either get both
letters into the correct letterboxes or they will
be swapped around, so the average number
of correct deliveries is (2 + 0)/2 = 1 . In fact,
the average result is always 1 even if you \^
have 100 houses and 100 letters.
Versatile squares page 57

A What are the odds? page 59

2 1 4 A There are 5x4x3x2x1 ways of
addressing the cards, but only one way is
3 5 7 completely correct. Hence, the probability is
1/120.
B Zero, because if one envelope is wrong
Latin square of order 6 page 55 6 9 8 then at least one other envelope must be
36 tiles are impossible. A solution for 32 wrong also.
tiles is:
12 1 18 Window shield page 60

Here's one possible design for Bob's window.

9 6 4
2 36 3

3
9
1
6
2
4 x\\/\
n?\
18
Can you find a better solution?
36 12
X/\
94 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
ANSWERS

Hexagons or cubes page 62 For 4 yellow, 2 red: The two red beads can can be separate, and two unique ways with
either be next to each other, one bead apart, 2 reds + 1 red elsewhere. This is four in total.
Here's one possible solution. Put together in or two beads apart (i.e., opposite each This totals 1+1+3+4 = 9 ways so far. All
this way the hexagons resemble cubes.
other). This gives three unique possibilities. the other cases are the same as these with
For 3 yellow, 3 red: There is one way the the colors reversed, so there must be 18 in
reds can be all bunched up, one way the reds total, as shown here.
can be separate, and one unique way to
have 2 reds + 1 red elsewhere. This is three
in total.
So far, that is 1 + 1 + 3 + 3 = 8. However,
we can cut down the work for the remaining
three cases because they are the same as the
first three but with the colors reversed. So
the total is 2 x (1 + 1 + 3) + 3 = 13.

Dance floor dominoes pace 64

Note that where four tiles touch corners,
# & £
# & <&

12

s£^0
there is a high degree of symmetry (by
necessity).

15

On guard page 68
Each of the squares in these 3 x 3 to 8 x 8
grids either contains a knight or is attacked

by one.

Guess what? page 66

DJ display page 65 •W»l A
A green zigzag cannot be made. There are 27,012 different ways of making a
20-bead necklace using two colors of beads.
How close did you get?
Drive time page 65
It is a certainty. To see why, imagine that Seventh heaven page 67 ___
Groovy Stu is driving his car and that his twin
brother Mike Fab is driving the cab at the Using a similar analysis to the previous • _
• ••
same times, but instead they choose to drive
on the same day. Stu and Mike must pass
each other at some point.
For 7 yellows: There is only one possibility
puzzle:
(all the same).
_ I 1 1 Ic
For 6 yellow, 1 red: There is only one
Sixth form page 66 possibility, since the red segment can be
rotated to anywhere on the brooch. C
Thirteen designs are possible, as shown here. For 5 yellow, 2 red: The two red triangles can
For 6 yellows: There is only one possibility either be next to each other, one section
(all the same) apart, or two sections apart. This gives three
For 5 yellow, 1 red: There is only one unique possibilities.
possibility, since the red bead can be rotated For 4 yellow, 3 red: There is one way the
to anywhere on the necklace. reds can be all bunched up, one way the reds
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
ANSWERS

Knight tracks pace 69 From A to B pace 70 Chessboard standoff pace 72

The best solutions for 3 x 3 to 8 x 8 grids No, because the knight will make 63 jumps A 2 ways. The second is the mirror image

**i#
are given here. (an odd number), so will finish on a different of this one.
"
colorT square from the one on which he
'7 started. Opposite squares of an 8 x 8
1-Z chessboard are the same color.
-v-
«* 2§ The bishop's tour pace 71 ffl

til
Here is one way His Grace can do the

5-
3j* 3E rounds. Note that he has to start in one
white corner and finish in the other.
►n
B 1 way

b a HJ*J%
-f
rf "V J*S^>-r£ r*i H
^
t^
*S2S3 «i5 i! t< BJ5 ►!
tt

A
it1 ,*l
Big knight out page 69
Note that a knight always attacks squares
that are different from the color of square it
is currently on. A 7 x 7 chessboard has 25
black squares and 24 white squares. By7
-
Zt B * * C 6 ways. This is one of them.

51
placing one knight on every black square,
only white squares will be attacked.
Therefore, 25 is the correct answer.
The queen's tour pace 71
Here's one way to conduct the royal visit:
The rook's tour pace 70
A This is one solution. (It is surprising
how many 17-move solutions there are,
and how difficult it is to find a 16-move
solution like this.)

P S * II
B * II D There are 12 unique solutions for placing
eight queens on an 8 x 8 grid, only two of
II * B which don't use the main diagonals. This is
one of them.

II rA B irt
L : J kl
The grand tour pace 71
B The catch in the question was that Rook
had to enter every square just once — i.e., he It is not possible on any square chessboard
could revisit the start point. This makes the with an odd number of squares (such as
problem possible: 5 x 5 or 7 x 7). For example, on a 5 x 5
chessboard, the knight will make 24 jumps
before returning home. The knight will end
the 24th jump on a square of the same color
to the start position. The final leap back
home is therefore impossible, because a
knight cannot jump from a black square to
a black square (the same is true for white to
white). It is possible on a 6x6 chessboard. Chessboard jigsaw page 72
It's not possible, because removing two
opposite corners of the chessboard removes
two squares of the same color. Since each
2x1 piece contains a square of either color,
you will always be left with two individual
squares of the same color.
96 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
ANSWERS

A right royal mess page 73 Congestion calamity pace 74

Again, the easiest way to solve this is to write down the number of

ii
A B
ways of reaching each junction. This is made slightly harder by the
arrows pointing in different directions. There are 13 routes in all.

B (ii) This solution uses C

18 queens.

-■ ■■ U
1
in B

— -- J1 1 Hungry Horace pace 75

In this more difficult puzzle, it was necessary to keep a separate count
of the number of routes that have not yet been through a Sloppy Joe's
The world's best chess puzzle pace 73 (the upper number in the circles illustrated) as well as the number of
routes that have been through exactly one SJ so far (the lower
The full solution, complete with black's best possible replies, is: number).
MOVE 1: WHITE Pawn b2 to b4
BLACK Rook c8 to c5 (white in check) When adding together the number of routes at a junction, the
MOVE 2: WHITE Pawn b4 takes c5 effect of a Sloppy Joe's needs to be taken into account. For example,
BLACK Pawn a3 to a2 using the Sloppy Joe's on the far right-hand side, from the west there
MOVE 3: WHITE Pawn c5 to c6 are two routes that haven't visited SJ yet and three routes that have.
To this we need to add the "3/1 " from the north — but note that this
BLACK Bishop d8 to c7 turns into a "0/3" when it goes through the SJ (make sure you
MOVE 4: WHITE Pawn c6 takes b7 understand why). This results in [2/3] + [0/3] = [2/6].
BLACK (doesn't matter) By the time we reach the bottom corner, we can see that there are
MOVE 5: WHITE Pawn b7 takes a8. and
exactly 23 routes that have passed through a Sloppy Joe's exactly
upgrades to a queen. once (and six ways of missing one altogether, if you're on a diet).
This checkmates the black king, because he cannot escape to g1
(protected by knight at h3) nor g2 and h2 (protected by rook at e2).
Note how the b2 pawn has run all the way up the board to win the
match in just five moves.

There or roundabouts pace 74

The number of ways of reaching each
junction is shown in the illustration. .
Where two or more routes meet
the number of routes is simply
added together So there are
ten routes from A to B.

\ej?+ \£y w&

home
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 97
ANSWERS
,v

Fare's fair page 76 B There are many ways of creating a square in this geometry that all
look different. Here are three examples.
A It's not difficult to count that there are 10 different routes from A
to C, and so there must be 10 from C to B too. As each of these
routes is completely independent, there are 10 x 10 = 100 routes from
A to B via C.
^r
B Here, we have too many routes to count, but we can use a
standard method of writing down the number of ways of reaching a _£ i_
junction, much like the one used for the previous three problems.
There is only one way of reaching the north edge of the grid shown _ci_
and similarly for the east edge. Each intermediate junction is then the ^r
sum of the two numbers to the north and east of it.
^r
If we tilt the grid by 45 degrees, we get a pleasant triangular shape
in which every number is the sum of the two numbers immediately
above it. This is called Pascal's triangle, and is useful for all kinds of _C\
problems including the lottery result puzzles on page 58. For example,
the number of ways of guessing three balls from five possibilities is 10, ^.r
given by the third number in the fifth row (ignore the top 1). _Z\
The illustration shows that there are 210 ways of going from A to B
^7^
^
directly. Other interesting by-products of this triangle include the ^i..
-CX-
third diagonal (which generates the triangular numbers, something --£X.
u\-
else we've seen in this book) and the fourth diagonal (the pyramid
numbers — i.e.. numbers of cannonballs that can be arranged into _c\.
^r
pyramids with triangular bases). •N ^T
-£>--

^7^ ^7^~
_CX-

-C V
^7^
u
t\ J> .**
C Here is one example of a 14,
8, 6 triangle in taxicab geometry.

Cake calamity page 80

^7^
Taxicab geometry pace 77
Because the cake frosting has merely melted and warped but not been
A This is what circles of radii 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 would look like. Note
mixed in any way, the original and melted designs will be
how "circles" in taxicab geometry look like squares! (Strictly speaking, topologically equivalent. That is, although they are deformed, the
only the junction points are the circles; the lines between the points essential design will be the same. So, the number of areas and the
are added only to aid the eye.)
ways the lines cross should be familiar.
Cake A: Cake 2 is correct, because in cake 1 the crossroads are in the
wrong order and in cake 3 there are too many areas (more than the
seven in the original diagram)

Cake B: Cake 2 is correct, because in cake 1 the endpoints don't

match and in cake 3 there is a crossroads that shouldn't be there.
Cake C: Cake 2 is correct, because in cake 1 there are six areas (only
five in the target diagram) and in cake 3 one line crosses itself, which
doesn't happen in the original diagram.

Dough handcuffs page 81

Because we never made or filled in any holes, all these dough models
are topologically equivalent to each other.
98 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
ANSWERS

Frosting on the cake page 81 World domination — Part 2

PACE 84
These are the frosting designs Cath used. As
you can see, each uses three colors.
This is Lord Bertram's view of the world:

Id
UD ■ Winning Brams' game pace 83
This map is a 2-D equivalent of a
dodecahedron (a 12-sided regular solid).
Modern art pace 82 The maximizer can always win by playing the
same color on the face of the dodecahedron
A Two colors are required in each case. opposite where the opponent last played. Galactic domination pace 85
B One way to look at this is to add the lines The diagram below should make this Nine colors are necessary. 1 & 3 and 2 & 5
to the painting one by one. As each line is symmetry clearer. are the same colors. Incidentally, this problem
added, all you have to do is to interchange was originally proposed by mathematician
the colors on all regions that lie on one side Gerhard Ringel in 1950.
of the new line. This ensures that the colors
remain different across old boundaries,
and also across the new one thanks to the
interchange of colors. The same proof can
be generalized to apply to paintings in which
the boundaries are either single curves
that run right across the whole picture,
or closed loops.
Another way of looking at it is to notice
that these paintings have an even number of
edges meeting at any junction. This must be
true of any picture that can be colored with
just two colors, because the regions around a
junction or corner must be of alternate
colors. Therefore, any picture can be colored
using only two colors if, and only if, all its
junctions have an even number of edges World domination — Part 1
meeting there. This is known as the Two- PACE 84
Color Theorem
Here's one way for Sir Frederick's master plan
to work:

Door to door pace 87

Theseus should follow a route such as this:

ff

ir
L7 ^?=L

t?
k. rz£b cD
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 99
CUTOUTS

Pythagorean puzzle page 21

Galaxy game page 23

1)®©©©©©©®®
© ® ® ® © ® @ ® ® ®
1 00 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
CUTOUTS
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 101
CUTOUTS

The game of trees page 28

II I
I I I I
V I I \ I
I I I I /

I I
I

\ I \

I /

I I \

\
/ I I
I I

I I \

I II /

I
I I
1 02 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
CUTOUTS
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 103
CUTOUTS

The game of trees page 28

I I
I I
u I • u
I I
I I
n
I L j
■
c
11
U i
I I 11
I I
I I i
I
I I I l i i
I I I
I i
IM^^B^^BBfl
1 1
J I \
1 04 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
CUTOUTS
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 105
CUTOUTS

Ramsey game board page 31

1 06 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
CUTOUTS
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 107
CUTOUTS

Tangram pieces pages 32 and 34

1 08 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
CUTOUTS
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 1 09
CUTOUTS

Square dissections page 36

Si

(O
110 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
CUTOUTS
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 111
CUTOUTS

Five-piece suite pace 37

Hexagon to triangle puzzle page 38

Six-pointed star puzzle page 38

Stars puzzle page 39

112 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
CUTOUTS
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 113
CUTOUTS

PolygO PACE 46
114 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
CUTOUTS
 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 115
CUTOUTS

Bits tiles and gameboard pages 48-49

116 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES
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 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 117
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Hexabits page 50

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Domino derby page 52

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Domino rally page 53

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Permutino page 58

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Window tiles pages 60-61

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Hexagon tiles pages 62-63

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 DEVIOUSLY DIFFICULT MIND-BENDING PUZZLES 127
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Dance floor dominoes page 64

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