108.—THE LEAP-YEAR LADIES.

Last leap-year ladies lost no time in exercising the privilege of making proposals of marriage. If the figures that reached me from an occult source are correct, the following represents the state of affairs in this country.

A number of women proposed once each, of whom one-eighth were widows. In consequence, a number of men were to be married of whom one-eleventh were widowers. Of the proposals made to widowers, one-fifth were declined. All the widows were accepted. Thirty-five forty-fourths of the widows married bachelors. One thousand two hundred and twenty-one spinsters were declined by bachelors. The number of spinsters accepted by bachelors was seven times the number of widows accepted by bachelors. Those are all the particulars that I was able to obtain. Now, how many women proposed?

109.—THE GREAT SCRAMBLE.

After dinner, the five boys of a household happened to find a parcel of sugar-plums. It was quite unexpected loot, and an exciting scramble ensued, the full details of which I will recount with accuracy, as it forms an interesting puzzle.

You see, Andrew managed to get possession of just two-thirds of the parcel of sugar-plums. Bob at once grabbed three-eighths of these, and Charlie managed to seize three-tenths also. Then young David dashed upon the scene, and captured all that Andrew had left, except one-seventh, which Edgar artfully secured for himself by a cunning trick. Now the fun began in real earnest, for Andrew and Charlie jointly set upon Bob, who stumbled against the fender and dropped half of all that he had, which were equally picked up by David and Edgar, who had crawled under a table and were waiting. Next, Bob sprang on Charlie from a chair, and upset all the latter's collection on to the floor. Of this prize Andrew got just a quarter, Bob gathered up one-third, David got two-sevenths, while Charlie and Edgar divided equally what was left of that stock.



They were just thinking the fray was over when David suddenly struck out in two directions at once, upsetting three-quarters of what Bob and Andrew had last acquired. The two latter, with the greatest difficulty, recovered five-eighths of it in equal shares, but the three others each carried off one-fifth of the same. Every sugar-plum was now accounted for, and they called a truce, and divided equally amongst them the remainder of the parcel. What is the smallest number of sugar-plums there could have been at the start, and what proportion did each boy obtain?

110.—THE ABBOT'S PUZZLE.

The first English puzzlist whose name has come down to us was a Yorkshireman—no other than Alcuin, Abbot of Canterbury (A.D. 735-804). Here is a little puzzle from his works, which is at least interesting on account of its antiquity. "If 100 bushels of corn were distributed among 100 people in such a manner that each man received three bushels, each woman two, and each child half a bushel, how many men, women, and children were there?"

Now, there are six different correct answers, if we exclude a case where there would be no women. But let us say that there were just five times as many women as men, then what is the correct solution?

111.—REAPING THE CORN.

A farmer had a square cornfield. The corn was all ripe for reaping, and, as he was short of men, it was arranged that he and his son should share the work between them. The farmer first cut one rod wide all round the square, thus leaving a smaller square of standing corn in the middle of the field. "Now," he said to his son, "I have cut my half of the field, and you can do your share." The son was not quite satisfied as to the proposed division of labour, and as the village schoolmaster happened to be passing, he appealed to that person to decide the matter. He found the farmer was quite correct, provided there was no dispute as to the size of the field, and on this point they were agreed. Can you tell the area of the field, as that ingenious schoolmaster succeeded in doing?

112.—A PUZZLING LEGACY.

A man left a hundred acres of land to be divided among his three sons—Alfred, Benjamin, and Charles—in the proportion of one-third, one-fourth, and one-fifth respectively. But Charles died. How was the land to be divided fairly between Alfred and Benjamin?

113.—THE TORN NUMBER.



I had the other day in my possession a label bearing the number 3 0 2 5 in large figures. This got accidentally torn in half, so that 3 0 was on one piece and 2 5 on the other, as shown on the illustration. On looking at these pieces I began to make a calculation, scarcely conscious of what I was doing, when I discovered this little peculiarity. If we add the 3 0 and the 2 5 together and square the sum we get as the result the complete original number on the label! Thus, 30 added to 25 is 55, and 55 multiplied by 55 is 3025. Curious, is it not? Now, the puzzle is to find another number, composed of four figures, all different, which may be divided in the middle and produce the same result.

114.—CURIOUS NUMBERS.

The number 48 has this peculiarity, that if you add 1 to it the result is a square number (49, the square of 7), and if you add 1 to its half, you also get a square number (25, the square of 5). Now, there is no limit to the numbers that have this peculiarity, and it is an interesting puzzle to find three more of them—the smallest possible numbers. What are they?

115.—A PRINTER'S ERROR.

In a certain article a printer had to set up the figures 5^4x2^3, which, of course, means that the fourth power of 5 (625) is to be multiplied by the cube of 2 (8), the product of which is 5,000. But he printed 5^4x2^3 as 5 4 2 3, which is not correct. Can you place four digits in the manner shown, so that it will be equally correct if the printer sets it up aright or makes the same blunder?

116.—THE CONVERTED MISER.

Mr. Jasper Bullyon was one of the very few misers who have ever been converted to a sense of their duty towards their less fortunate fellow-men. One eventful night he counted out his accumulated wealth, and resolved to distribute it amongst the deserving poor.

He found that if he gave away the same number of pounds every day in the year, he could exactly spread it over a twelvemonth without there being anything left over; but if he rested on the Sundays, and only gave away a fixed number of pounds every weekday, there would be one sovereign left over on New Year's Eve. Now, putting it at the lowest possible, what was the exact number of pounds that he had to distribute?

Could any question be simpler? A sum of pounds divided by one number of days leaves no remainder, but divided by another number of days leaves a sovereign over. That is all; and yet, when you come to tackle this little question, you will be surprised that it can become so puzzling.

117.—A FENCE PROBLEM.



The practical usefulness of puzzles is a point that we are liable to overlook. Yet, as a matter of fact, I have from time to time received quite a large number of letters from individuals who have found that the mastering of some little principle upon which a puzzle was built has proved of considerable value to them in a most unexpected way. Indeed, it may be accepted as a good maxim that a puzzle is of little real value unless, as well as being amusing and perplexing, it conceals some instructive and possibly useful feature. It is, however, very curious how these little bits of acquired knowledge dovetail into the occasional requirements of everyday life, and equally curious to what strange and mysterious uses some of our readers seem to apply them. What, for example, can be the object of Mr. Wm. Oxley, who writes to me all the way from Iowa, in wishing to ascertain the dimensions of a field that he proposes to enclose, containing just as many acres as there shall be rails in the fence?

The man wishes to fence in a perfectly square field which is to contain just as many acres as there are rails in the required fence. Each hurdle, or portion of fence, is seven rails high, and two lengths would extend one pole (161/2 ft.): that is to say, there are fourteen rails to the pole, lineal measure. Now, what must be the size of the field?

118.—CIRCLING THE SQUARES.



The puzzle is to place a different number in each of the ten squares so that the sum of the squares of any two adjacent numbers shall be equal to the sum of the squares of the two numbers diametrically opposite to them. The four numbers placed, as examples, must stand as they are. The square of 16 is 256, and the square of 2 is 4. Add these together, and the result is 260. Also—the square of 14 is 196, and the square of 8 is 64. These together also make 260. Now, in precisely the same way, B and C should be equal to G and H (the sum will not necessarily be 260), A and K to F and E, H and I to C and D, and so on, with any two adjoining squares in the circle.

All you have to do is to fill in the remaining six numbers. Fractions are not allowed, and I shall show that no number need contain more than two figures.

119.—RACKBRANE'S LITTLE LOSS.

Professor Rackbrane was spending an evening with his old friends, Mr. and Mrs. Potts, and they engaged in some game (he does not say what game) of cards. The professor lost the first game, which resulted in doubling the money that both Mr. and Mrs. Potts had laid on the table. The second game was lost by Mrs. Potts, which doubled the money then held by her husband and the professor. Curiously enough, the third game was lost by Mr. Potts, and had the effect of doubling the money then held by his wife and the professor. It was then found that each person had exactly the same money, but the professor had lost five shillings in the course of play. Now, the professor asks, what was the sum of money with which he sat down at the table? Can you tell him?

120.—THE FARMER AND HIS SHEEP.



Farmer Longmore had a curious aptitude for arithmetic, and was known in his district as the "mathematical farmer." The new vicar was not aware of this fact when, meeting his worthy parishioner one day in the lane, he asked him in the course of a short conversation, "Now, how many sheep have you altogether?" He was therefore rather surprised at Longmore's answer, which was as follows: "You can divide my sheep into two different parts, so that the difference between the two numbers is the same as the difference between their squares. Maybe, Mr. Parson, you will like to work out the little sum for yourself."

Can the reader say just how many sheep the farmer had? Supposing he had possessed only twenty sheep, and he divided them into the two parts 12 and 8. Now, the difference between their squares, 144 and 64, is 80. So that will not do, for 4 and 80 are certainly not the same. If you can find numbers that work out correctly, you will know exactly how many sheep Farmer Longmore owned.

121.—HEADS OR TAILS.

Crooks, an inveterate gambler, at Goodwood recently said to a friend, "I'll bet you half the money in my pocket on the toss of a coin—heads I win, tails I lose." The coin was tossed and the money handed over. He repeated the offer again and again, each time betting half the money then in his possession. We are not told how long the game went on, or how many times the coin was tossed, but this we know, that the number of times that Crooks lost was exactly equal to the number of times that he won. Now, did he gain or lose by this little venture?

122.—THE SEE-SAW PUZZLE.

Necessity is, indeed, the mother of invention. I was amused the other day in watching a boy who wanted to play see-saw and, in his failure to find another child to share the sport with him, had been driven back upon the ingenious resort of tying a number of bricks to one end of the plank to balance his weight at the other.

As a matter of fact, he just balanced against sixteen bricks, when these were fixed to the short end of plank, but if he fixed them to the long end of plank he only needed eleven as balance.

Now, what was that boy's weight, if a brick weighs equal to a three-quarter brick and three-quarters of a pound?

123.—A LEGAL DIFFICULTY.

"A client of mine," said a lawyer, "was on the point of death when his wife was about to present him with a child. I drew up his will, in which he settled two-thirds of his estate upon his son (if it should happen to be a boy) and one-third on the mother. But if the child should be a girl, then two-thirds of the estate should go to the mother and one-third to the daughter. As a matter of fact, after his death twins were born—a boy and a girl. A very nice point then arose. How was the estate to be equitably divided among the three in the closest possible accordance with the spirit of the dead man's will?"

124.—A QUESTION OF DEFINITION.

"My property is exactly a mile square," said one landowner to another.

"Curiously enough, mine is a square mile," was the reply.

"Then there is no difference?"

Is this last statement correct?

125.—THE MINERS' HOLIDAY.

Seven coal-miners took a holiday at the seaside during a big strike. Six of the party spent exactly half a sovereign each, but Bill Harris was more extravagant. Bill spent three shillings more than the average of the party. What was the actual amount of Bill's expenditure?

126.—SIMPLE MULTIPLICATION.

If we number six cards 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8, and arrange them on the table in this order:—

1 4 2 8 5 7

We can demonstrate that in order to multiply by 3 all that is necessary is to remove the 1 to the other end of the row, and the thing is done. The answer is 428571. Can you find a number that, when multiplied by 3 and divided by 2, the answer will be the same as if we removed the first card (which in this case is to be a 3) From the beginning of the row to the end?

127.—SIMPLE DIVISION.

Sometimes a very simple question in elementary arithmetic will cause a good deal of perplexity. For example, I want to divide the four numbers, 701, 1,059, 1,417, and 2,312, by the largest number possible that will leave the same remainder in every case. How am I to set to work Of course, by a laborious system of trial one can in time discover the answer, but there is quite a simple method of doing it if you can only find it.

128.—A PROBLEM IN SQUARES.

We possess three square boards. The surface of the first contains five square feet more than the second, and the second contains five square feet more than the third. Can you give exact measurements for the sides of the boards? If you can solve this little puzzle, then try to find three squares in arithmetical progression, with a common difference of 7 and also of 13.



129.—THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.

All historians know that there is a great deal of mystery and uncertainty concerning the details of the ever-memorable battle on that fatal day, October 14, 1066. My puzzle deals with a curious passage in an ancient monkish chronicle that may never receive the attention that it deserves, and if I am unable to vouch for the authenticity of the document it will none the less serve to furnish us with a problem that can hardly fail to interest those of my readers who have arithmetical predilections. Here is the passage in question.

"The men of Harold stood well together, as their wont was, and formed sixty and one squares, with a like number of men in every square thereof, and woe to the hardy Norman who ventured to enter their redoubts; for a single blow of a Saxon war-hatchet would break his lance and cut through his coat of mail.... When Harold threw himself into the fray the Saxons were one mighty square of men, shouting the battle-cries, 'Ut!' 'Olicrosse!' 'Godemite!'"

Now, I find that all the contemporary authorities agree that the Saxons did actually fight in this solid order. For example, in the "Carmen de Bello Hastingensi," a poem attributed to Guy, Bishop of Amiens, living at the time of the battle, we are told that "the Saxons stood fixed in a dense mass," and Henry of Huntingdon records that "they were like unto a castle, impenetrable to the Normans;" while Robert Wace, a century after, tells us the same thing. So in this respect my newly-discovered chronicle may not be greatly in error. But I have reason to believe that there is something wrong with the actual figures. Let the reader see what he can make of them.

The number of men would be sixty-one times a square number; but when Harold himself joined in the fray they were then able to form one large square. What is the smallest possible number of men there could have been?

In order to make clear to the reader the simplicity of the question, I will give the lowest solutions in the case of 60 and 62, the numbers immediately preceding and following 61. They are 60 x 4 squared + 1 = 31 squared, and 62 x 8 squared + 1 = 63 squared. That is, 60 squares of 16 men each would be 960 men, and when Harold joined them they would be 961 in number, and so form a square with 31 men on every side. Similarly in the case of the figures I have given for 62. Now, find the lowest answer for 61.

130.—THE SCULPTOR'S PROBLEM.

An ancient sculptor was commissioned to supply two statues, each on a cubical pedestal. It is with these pedestals that we are concerned. They were of unequal sizes, as will be seen in the illustration, and when the time arrived for payment a dispute arose as to whether the agreement was based on lineal or cubical measurement. But as soon as they came to measure the two pedestals the matter was at once settled, because, curiously enough, the number of lineal feet was exactly the same as the number of cubical feet. The puzzle is to find the dimensions for two pedestals having this peculiarity, in the smallest possible figures. You see, if the two pedestals, for example, measure respectively 3 ft. and 1 ft. on every side, then the lineal measurement would be 4 ft. and the cubical contents 28 ft., which are not the same, so these measurements will not do.



131.—THE SPANISH MISER.

There once lived in a small town in New Castile a noted miser named Don Manuel Rodriguez. His love of money was only equalled by a strong passion for arithmetical problems. These puzzles usually dealt in some way or other with his accumulated treasure, and were propounded by him solely in order that he might have the pleasure of solving them himself. Unfortunately very few of them have survived, and when travelling through Spain, collecting material for a proposed work on "The Spanish Onion as a Cause of National Decadence," I only discovered a very few. One of these concerns the three boxes that appear in the accompanying authentic portrait.



Each box contained a different number of golden doubloons. The difference between the number of doubloons in the upper box and the number in the middle box was the same as the difference between the number in the middle box and the number in the bottom box. And if the contents of any two of the boxes were united they would form a square number. What is the smallest number of doubloons that there could have been in any one of the boxes?

132.—THE NINE TREASURE BOXES.

The following puzzle will illustrate the importance on occasions of being able to fix the minimum and maximum limits of a required number. This can very frequently be done. For example, it has not yet been ascertained in how many different ways the knight's tour can be performed on the chess board; but we know that it is fewer than the number of combinations of 168 things taken 63 at a time and is greater than 31,054,144—for the latter is the number of routes of a particular type. Or, to take a more familiar case, if you ask a man how many coins he has in his pocket, he may tell you that he has not the slightest idea. But on further questioning you will get out of him some such statement as the following: "Yes, I am positive that I have more than three coins, and equally certain that there are not so many as twenty-five." Now, the knowledge that a certain number lies between 2 and 12 in my puzzle will enable the solver to find the exact answer; without that information there would be an infinite number of answers, from which it would be impossible to select the correct one.

This is another puzzle received from my friend Don Manuel Rodriguez, the cranky miser of New Castile. On New Year's Eve in 1879 he showed me nine treasure boxes, and after informing me that every box contained a square number of golden doubloons, and that the difference between the contents of A and B was the same as between B and C, D and E, E and F, G and H, or H and I, he requested me to tell him the number of coins in every one of the boxes. At first I thought this was impossible, as there would be an infinite number of different answers, but on consideration I found that this was not the case. I discovered that while every box contained coins, the contents of A, B, C increased in weight in alphabetical order; so did D, E, F; and so did G, H, I; but D or E need not be heavier than C, nor G or H heavier than F. It was also perfectly certain that box A could not contain more than a dozen coins at the outside; there might not be half that number, but I was positive that there were not more than twelve. With this knowledge I was able to arrive at the correct answer.

In short, we have to discover nine square numbers such that A, B, C; and D, E, F; and G, H, I are three groups in arithmetical progression, the common difference being the same in each group, and A being less than 12. How many doubloons were there in every one of the nine boxes?

133.—THE FIVE BRIGANDS.

The five Spanish brigands, Alfonso, Benito, Carlos, Diego, and Esteban, were counting their spoils after a raid, when it was found that they had captured altogether exactly 200 doubloons. One of the band pointed out that if Alfonso had twelve times as much, Benito three times as much, Carlos the same amount, Diego half as much, and Esteban one-third as much, they would still have altogether just 200 doubloons. How many doubloons had each?

There are a good many equally correct answers to this question. Here is one of them:

A 6 x 12 = 72 B 12 x 3 = 36 C 17 x 1 = 17 D 120 x 1/2 = 60 E 45 x 1/3 = 15 200 200

The puzzle is to discover exactly how many different answers there are, it being understood that every man had something and that there is to be no fractional money—only doubloons in every case.

This problem, worded somewhat differently, was propounded by Tartaglia (died 1559), and he flattered himself that he had found one solution; but a French mathematician of note (M.A. Labosne), in a recent work, says that his readers will be astonished when he assures them that there are 6,639 different correct answers to the question. Is this so? How many answers are there?

134.—THE BANKER'S PUZZLE.

A banker had a sporting customer who was always anxious to wager on anything. Hoping to cure him of his bad habit, he proposed as a wager that the customer would not be able to divide up the contents of a box containing only sixpences into an exact number of equal piles of sixpences. The banker was first to put in one or more sixpences (as many as he liked); then the customer was to put in one or more (but in his case not more than a pound in value), neither knowing what the other put in. Lastly, the customer was to transfer from the banker's counter to the box as many sixpences as the banker desired him to put in. The puzzle is to find how many sixpences the banker should first put in and how many he should ask the customer to transfer, so that he may have the best chance of winning.

135.—THE STONEMASON'S PROBLEM.

A stonemason once had a large number of cubic blocks of stone in his yard, all of exactly the same size. He had some very fanciful little ways, and one of his queer notions was to keep these blocks piled in cubical heaps, no two heaps containing the same number of blocks. He had discovered for himself (a fact that is well known to mathematicians) that if he took all the blocks contained in any number of heaps in regular order, beginning with the single cube, he could always arrange those on the ground so as to form a perfect square. This will be clear to the reader, because one block is a square, 1 + 8 = 9 is a square, 1 + 8 + 27 = 36 is a square, 1 + 8 + 27 + 64 = 100 is a square, and so on. In fact, the sum of any number of consecutive cubes, beginning always with 1, is in every case a square number.

One day a gentleman entered the mason's yard and offered him a certain price if he would supply him with a consecutive number of these cubical heaps which should contain altogether a number of blocks that could be laid out to form a square, but the buyer insisted on more than three heaps and declined to take the single block because it contained a flaw. What was the smallest possible number of blocks of stone that the mason had to supply?

136.—THE SULTAN'S ARMY.

A certain Sultan wished to send into battle an army that could be formed into two perfect squares in twelve different ways. What is the smallest number of men of which that army could be composed? To make it clear to the novice, I will explain that if there were 130 men, they could be formed into two squares in only two different ways—81 and 49, or 121 and 9. Of course, all the men must be used on every occasion.

137.—A STUDY IN THRIFT.

Certain numbers are called triangular, because if they are taken to represent counters or coins they may be laid out on the table so as to form triangles. The number 1 is always regarded as triangular, just as 1 is a square and a cube number. Place one counter on the table—that is, the first triangular number. Now place two more counters beneath it, and you have a triangle of three counters; therefore 3 is triangular. Next place a row of three more counters, and you have a triangle of six counters; therefore 6 is triangular. We see that every row of counters that we add, containing just one more counter than the row above it, makes a larger triangle.

Now, half the sum of any number and its square is always a triangular number. Thus half of 2 + 2 squared = 3; half of 3 + 3 squared = 6; half of 4 + 4 squared = 10; half of 5 + 5 squared= 15; and so on. So if we want to form a triangle with 8 counters on each side we shall require half of 8 + 8 squared, or 36 counters. This is a pretty little property of numbers. Before going further, I will here say that if the reader refers to the "Stonemason's Problem" (No. 135) he will remember that the sum of any number of consecutive cubes beginning with 1 is always a square, and these form the series 1 squared, 3 squared, 6 squared, 10 squared, etc. It will now be understood when I say that one of the keys to the puzzle was the fact that these are always the squares of triangular numbers—that is, the squares of 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, etc., any of which numbers we have seen will form a triangle.

Every whole number is either triangular, or the sum of two triangular numbers or the sum of three triangular numbers. That is, if we take any number we choose we can always form one, two, or three triangles with them. The number 1 will obviously, and uniquely, only form one triangle; some numbers will only form two triangles (as 2, 4, 11, etc.); some numbers will only form three triangles (as 5, 8, 14, etc.). Then, again, some numbers will form both one and two triangles (as 6), others both one and three triangles (as 3 and 10), others both two and three triangles (as 7 and 9), while some numbers (like 21) will form one, two, or three triangles, as we desire. Now for a little puzzle in triangular numbers.

Sandy McAllister, of Aberdeen, practised strict domestic economy, and was anxious to train his good wife in his own habits of thrift. He told her last New Year's Eve that when she had saved so many sovereigns that she could lay them all out on the table so as to form a perfect square, or a perfect triangle, or two triangles, or three triangles, just as he might choose to ask he would add five pounds to her treasure. Soon she went to her husband with a little bag of L36 in sovereigns and claimed her reward. It will be found that the thirty-six coins will form a square (with side 6), that they will form a single triangle (with side 8), that they will form two triangles (with sides 5 and 6), and that they will form three triangles (with sides 3, 5, and 5). In each of the four cases all the thirty-six coins are used, as required, and Sandy therefore made his wife the promised present like an honest man.

The Scotsman then undertook to extend his promise for five more years, so that if next year the increased number of sovereigns that she has saved can be laid out in the same four different ways she will receive a second present; if she succeeds in the following year she will get a third present, and so on until she has earned six presents in all. Now, how many sovereigns must she put together before she can win the sixth present?

What you have to do is to find five numbers, the smallest possible, higher than 36, that can be displayed in the four ways—to form a square, to form a triangle, to form two triangles, and to form three triangles. The highest of your five numbers will be your answer.

138.—THE ARTILLERYMEN'S DILEMMA.

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"All cannon-balls are to be piled in square pyramids," was the order issued to the regiment. This was done. Then came the further order, "All pyramids are to contain a square number of balls." Whereupon the trouble arose. "It can't be done," said the major. "Look at this pyramid, for example; there are sixteen balls at the base, then nine, then four, then one at the top, making thirty balls in all. But there must be six more balls, or five fewer, to make a square number." "It must be done," insisted the general. "All you have to do is to put the right number of balls in your pyramids." "I've got it!" said a lieutenant, the mathematical genius of the regiment. "Lay the balls out singly." "Bosh!" exclaimed the general. "You can't pile one ball into a pyramid!" Is it really possible to obey both orders?

139.—THE DUTCHMEN'S WIVES.

I wonder how many of my readers are acquainted with the puzzle of the "Dutchmen's Wives"—in which you have to determine the names of three men's wives, or, rather, which wife belongs to each husband. Some thirty years ago it was "going the rounds," as something quite new, but I recently discovered it in the Ladies' Diary for 1739-40, so it was clearly familiar to the fair sex over one hundred and seventy years ago. How many of our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, and aunts could solve the puzzle to-day? A far greater proportion than then, let us hope.

Three Dutchmen, named Hendrick, Elas, and Cornelius, and their wives, Gurtruen, Katruen, and Anna, purchase hogs. Each buys as many as he (or she) gives shillings for one. Each husband pays altogether three guineas more than his wife. Hendrick buys twenty-three more hogs than Katruen, and Elas eleven more than Gurtruen. Now, what was the name of each man's wife?



140.—FIND ADA'S SURNAME.

This puzzle closely resembles the last one, my remarks on the solution of which the reader may like to apply in another case. It was recently submitted to a Sydney evening newspaper that indulges in "intellect sharpeners," but was rejected with the remark that it is childish and that they only published problems capable of solution! Five ladies, accompanied by their daughters, bought cloth at the same shop. Each of the ten paid as many farthings per foot as she bought feet, and each mother spent 8s. 51/4d. more than her daughter. Mrs. Robinson spent 6s. more than Mrs. Evans, who spent about a quarter as much as Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Smith spent most of all. Mrs. Brown bought 21 yards more than Bessie—one of the girls. Annie bought 16 yards more than Mary and spent L3, 0s. 8d. more than Emily. The Christian name of the other girl was Ada. Now, what was her surname?

141.—SATURDAY MARKETING.

Here is an amusing little case of marketing which, although it deals with a good many items of money, leads up to a question of a totally different character. Four married couples went into their village on a recent Saturday night to do a little marketing. They had to be very economical, for among them they only possessed forty shilling coins. The fact is, Ann spent 1s., Mary spent 2s., Jane spent 3s., and Kate spent 4s. The men were rather more extravagant than their wives, for Ned Smith spent as much as his wife, Tom Brown twice as much as his wife, Bill Jones three times as much as his wife, and Jack Robinson four times as much as his wife. On the way home somebody suggested that they should divide what coin they had left equally among them. This was done, and the puzzling question is simply this: What was the surname of each woman? Can you pair off the four couples?



GEOMETRICAL PROBLEMS.

"God geometrizes continually."

PLATO.

"There is no study," said Augustus de Morgan, "which presents so simple a beginning as that of geometry; there is none in which difficulties grow more rapidly as we proceed." This will be found when the reader comes to consider the following puzzles, though they are not arranged in strict order of difficulty. And the fact that they have interested and given pleasure to man for untold ages is no doubt due in some measure to the appeal they make to the eye as well as to the brain. Sometimes an algebraical formula or theorem seems to give pleasure to the mathematician's eye, but it is probably only an intellectual pleasure. But there can be no doubt that in the case of certain geometrical problems, notably dissection or superposition puzzles, the aesthetic faculty in man contributes to the delight. For example, there are probably few readers who will examine the various cuttings of the Greek cross in the following pages without being in some degree stirred by a sense of beauty. Law and order in Nature are always pleasing to contemplate, but when they come under the very eye they seem to make a specially strong appeal. Even the person with no geometrical knowledge whatever is induced after the inspection of such things to exclaim, "How very pretty!" In fact, I have known more than one person led on to a study of geometry by the fascination of cutting-out puzzles. I have, therefore, thought it well to keep these dissection puzzles distinct from the geometrical problems on more general lines.



DISSECTION PUZZLES.

"Take him and cut him out in little stars."

Romeo and Juliet, iii. 2.

Puzzles have infinite variety, but perhaps there is no class more ancient than dissection, cutting-out, or superposition puzzles. They were certainly known to the Chinese several thousand years before the Christian era. And they are just as fascinating to-day as they can have been at any period of their history. It is supposed by those who have investigated the matter that the ancient Chinese philosophers used these puzzles as a sort of kindergarten method of imparting the principles of geometry. Whether this was so or not, it is certain that all good dissection puzzles (for the nursery type of jig-saw puzzle, which merely consists in cutting up a picture into pieces to be put together again, is not worthy of serious consideration) are really based on geometrical laws. This statement need not, however, frighten off the novice, for it means little more than this, that geometry will give us the "reason why," if we are interested in knowing it, though the solutions may often be discovered by any intelligent person after the exercise of patience, ingenuity, and common sagacity.

If we want to cut one plane figure into parts that by readjustment will form another figure, the first thing is to find a way of doing it at all, and then to discover how to do it in the fewest possible pieces. Often a dissection problem is quite easy apart from this limitation of pieces. At the time of the publication in the Weekly Dispatch, in 1902, of a method of cutting an equilateral triangle into four parts that will form a square (see No. 26, "Canterbury Puzzles"), no geometrician would have had any difficulty in doing what is required in five pieces: the whole point of the discovery lay in performing the little feat in four pieces only.

Mere approximations in the case of these problems are valueless; the solution must be geometrically exact, or it is not a solution at all. Fallacies are cropping up now and again, and I shall have occasion to refer to one or two of these. They are interesting merely as fallacies. But I want to say something on two little points that are always arising in cutting-out puzzles—the questions of "hanging by a thread" and "turning over." These points can best be illustrated by a puzzle that is frequently to be found in the old books, but invariably with a false solution. The puzzle is to cut the figure shown in Fig. 1 into three pieces that will fit together and form a half-square triangle. The answer that is invariably given is that shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Now, it is claimed that the four pieces marked C are really only one piece, because they may be so cut that they are left "hanging together by a mere thread." But no serious puzzle lover will ever admit this. If the cut is made so as to leave the four pieces joined in one, then it cannot result in a perfectly exact solution. If, on the other hand, the solution is to be exact, then there will be four pieces—or six pieces in all. It is, therefore, not a solution in three pieces.



If, however, the reader will look at the solution in Figs. 3 and 4, he will see that no such fault can be found with it. There is no question whatever that there are three pieces, and the solution is in this respect quite satisfactory. But another question arises. It will be found on inspection that the piece marked F, in Fig. 3, is turned over in Fig. 4—that is to say, a different side has necessarily to be presented. If the puzzle were merely to be cut out of cardboard or wood, there might be no objection to this reversal, but it is quite possible that the material would not admit of being reversed. There might be a pattern, a polish, a difference of texture, that prevents it. But it is generally understood that in dissection puzzles you are allowed to turn pieces over unless it is distinctly stated that you may not do so. And very often a puzzle is greatly improved by the added condition, "no piece may be turned over." I have often made puzzles, too, in which the diagram has a small repeated pattern, and the pieces have then so to be cut that not only is there no turning over, but the pattern has to be matched, which cannot be done if the pieces are turned round, even with the proper side uppermost.



Before presenting a varied series of cutting-out puzzles, some very easy and others difficult, I propose to consider one family alone—those problems involving what is known as the Greek cross with the square. This will exhibit a great variety of curious transpositions, and, by having the solutions as we go along, the reader will be saved the trouble of perpetually turning to another part of the book, and will have everything under his eye. It is hoped that in this way the article may prove somewhat instructive to the novice and interesting to others.

GREEK CROSS PUZZLES.

"To fret thy soul with crosses."

SPENSER.

"But, for my part, it was Greek to me."

Julius Caesar, i. 2.

Many people are accustomed to consider the cross as a wholly Christian symbol. This is erroneous: it is of very great antiquity. The ancient Egyptians employed it as a sacred symbol, and on Greek sculptures we find representations of a cake (the supposed real origin of our hot cross buns) bearing a cross. Two such cakes were discovered at Herculaneum. Cecrops offered to Jupiter Olympus a sacred cake or boun of this kind. The cross and ball, so frequently found on Egyptian figures, is a circle and the tau cross. The circle signified the eternal preserver of the world, and the T, named from the Greek letter tau, is the monogram of Thoth, the Egyptian Mercury, meaning wisdom. This tau cross is also called by Christians the cross of St. Anthony, and is borne on a badge in the bishop's palace at Exeter. As for the Greek or mundane cross, the cross with four equal arms, we are told by competent antiquaries that it was regarded by ancient occultists for thousands of years as a sign of the dual forces of Nature—the male and female spirit of everything that was everlasting.



The Greek cross, as shown in Fig. 5, is formed by the assembling together of five equal squares. We will start with what is known as the Hindu problem, supposed to be upwards of three thousand years old. It appears in the seal of Harvard College, and is often given in old works as symbolical of mathematical science and exactitude. Cut the cross into five pieces to form a square. Figs. 6 and 7 show how this is done. It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that we found that the cross might be transformed into a square in only four pieces. Figs. 8 and 9 will show how to do it, if we further require the four pieces to be all of the same size and shape. This Fig. 9 is remarkable because, according to Dr. Le Plongeon and others, as expounded in a work by Professor Wilson of the Smithsonian Institute, here we have the great Swastika, or sign, of "good luck to you "—the most ancient symbol of the human race of which there is any record. Professor Wilson's work gives some four hundred illustrations of this curious sign as found in the Aztec mounds of Mexico, the pyramids of Egypt, the ruins of Troy, and the ancient lore of India and China. One might almost say there is a curious affinity between the Greek cross and Swastika! If, however, we require that the four pieces shall be produced by only two clips of the scissors (assuming the puzzle is in paper form), then we must cut as in Fig. 10 to form Fig. 11, the first clip of the scissors being from a to b. Of course folding the paper, or holding the pieces together after the first cut, would not in this case be allowed. But there is an infinite number of different ways of making the cuts to solve the puzzle in four pieces. To this point I propose to return.



It will be seen that every one of these puzzles has its reverse puzzle—to cut a square into pieces to form a Greek cross. But as a square has not so many angles as the cross, it is not always equally easy to discover the true directions of the cuts. Yet in the case of the examples given, I will leave the reader to determine their direction for himself, as they are rather obvious from the diagrams.

Cut a square into five pieces that will form two separate Greek crosses of different sizes. This is quite an easy puzzle. As will be seen in Fig. 12, we have only to divide our square into 25 little squares and then cut as shown. The cross A is cut out entire, and the pieces B, C, D, and E form the larger cross in Fig. 13. The reader may here like to cut the single piece, B, into four pieces all similar in shape to itself, and form a cross with them in the manner shown in Fig. 13. I hardly need give the solution.



Cut a square into five pieces that will form two separate Greek crosses of exactly the same size. This is more difficult. We make the cuts as in Fig. 14, where the cross A comes out entire and the other four pieces form the cross in Fig. 15. The direction of the cuts is pretty obvious. It will be seen that the sides of the square in Fig. 14 are marked off into six equal parts. The sides of the cross are found by ruling lines from certain of these points to others.



I will now explain, as I promised, why a Greek cross may be cut into four pieces in an infinite number of different ways to make a square. Draw a cross, as in Fig. 16. Then draw on transparent paper the square shown in Fig. 17, taking care that the distance c to d is exactly the same as the distance a to b in the cross. Now place the transparent paper over the cross and slide it about into different positions, only be very careful always to keep the square at the same angle to the cross as shown, where a b is parallel to c d. If you place the point c exactly over a the lines will indicate the solution (Figs. 10 and 11). If you place c in the very centre of the dotted square, it will give the solution in Figs. 8 and 9. You will now see that by sliding the square about so that the point c is always within the dotted square you may get as many different solutions as you like; because, since an infinite number of different points may theoretically be placed within this square, there must be an infinite number of different solutions. But the point c need not necessarily be placed within the dotted square. It may be placed, for example, at point e to give a solution in four pieces. Here the joins at a and f may be as slender as you like. Yet if you once get over the edge at a or f you no longer have a solution in four pieces. This proof will be found both entertaining and instructive. If you do not happen to have any transparent paper at hand, any thin paper will of course do if you hold the two sheets against a pane of glass in the window.



It may have been noticed from the solutions of the puzzles that I have given that the side of the square formed from the cross is always equal to the distance a to b in Fig. 16. This must necessarily be so, and I will presently try to make the point quite clear.

We will now go one step further. I have already said that the ideal solution to a cutting-out puzzle is always that which requires the fewest possible pieces. We have just seen that two crosses of the same size may be cut out of a square in five pieces. The reader who succeeded in solving this perhaps asked himself: "Can it be done in fewer pieces?" This is just the sort of question that the true puzzle lover is always asking, and it is the right attitude for him to adopt. The answer to the question is that the puzzle may be solved in four pieces—the fewest possible. This, then, is a new puzzle. Cut a square into four pieces that will form two Greek crosses of the same size.



The solution is very beautiful. If you divide by points the sides of the square into three equal parts, the directions of the lines in Fig. 18 will be quite obvious. If you cut along these lines, the pieces A and B will form the cross in Fig. 19 and the pieces C and D the similar cross in Fig. 20. In this square we have another form of Swastika.

The reader will here appreciate the truth of my remark to the effect that it is easier to find the directions of the cuts when transforming a cross to a square than when converting a square into a cross. Thus, in Figs. 6, 8, and 10 the directions of the cuts are more obvious than in Fig. 14, where we had first to divide the sides of the square into six equal parts, and in Fig. 18, where we divide them into three equal parts. Then, supposing you were required to cut two equal Greek crosses, each into two pieces, to form a square, a glance at Figs. 19 and 20 will show how absurdly more easy this is than the reverse puzzle of cutting the square to make two crosses.

Referring to my remarks on "fallacies," I will now give a little example of these "solutions" that are not solutions. Some years ago a young correspondent sent me what he evidently thought was a brilliant new discovery—the transforming of a square into a Greek cross in four pieces by cuts all parallel to the sides of the square. I give his attempt in Figs. 21 and 22, where it will be seen that the four pieces do not form a symmetrical Greek cross, because the four arms are not really squares but oblongs. To make it a true Greek cross we should require the additions that I have indicated with dotted lines. Of course his solution produces a cross, but it is not the symmetrical Greek variety required by the conditions of the puzzle. My young friend thought his attempt was "near enough" to be correct; but if he bought a penny apple with a sixpence he probably would not have thought it "near enough" if he had been given only fourpence change. As the reader advances he will realize the importance of this question of exactitude.



In these cutting-out puzzles it is necessary not only to get the directions of the cutting lines as correct as possible, but to remember that these lines have no width. If after cutting up one of the crosses in a manner indicated in these articles you find that the pieces do not exactly fit to form a square, you may be certain that the fault is entirely your own. Either your cross was not exactly drawn, or your cuts were not made quite in the right directions, or (if you used wood and a fret-saw) your saw was not sufficiently fine. If you cut out the puzzles in paper with scissors, or in cardboard with a penknife, no material is lost; but with a saw, however fine, there is a certain loss. In the case of most puzzles this slight loss is not sufficient to be appreciable, if the puzzle is cut out on a large scale, but there have been instances where I have found it desirable to draw and cut out each part separately—not from one diagram—in order to produce a perfect result.



Now for another puzzle. If you have cut out the five pieces indicated in Fig. 14, you will find that these can be put together so as to form the curious cross shown in Fig. 23. So if I asked you to cut Fig. 24 into five pieces to form either a square or two equal Greek crosses you would know how to do it. You would make the cuts as in Fig. 23, and place them together as in Figs. 14 and 15. But I want something better than that, and it is this. Cut Fig. 24 into only four pieces that will fit together and form a square.



The solution to the puzzle is shown in Figs. 25 and 26. The direction of the cut dividing A and C in the first diagram is very obvious, and the second cut is made at right angles to it. That the four pieces should fit together and form a square will surprise the novice, who will do well to study the puzzle with some care, as it is most instructive.

I will now explain the beautiful rule by which we determine the size of a square that shall have the same area as a Greek cross, for it is applicable, and necessary, to the solution of almost every dissection puzzle that we meet with. It was first discovered by the philosopher Pythagoras, who died 500 B.C., and is the 47th proposition of Euclid. The young reader who knows nothing of the elements of geometry will get some idea of the fascinating character of that science. The triangle ABC in Fig. 27 is what we call a right-angled triangle, because the side BC is at right angles to the side AB. Now if we build up a square on each side of the triangle, the squares on AB and BC will together be exactly equal to the square on the long side AC, which we call the hypotenuse. This is proved in the case I have given by subdividing the three squares into cells of equal dimensions.



It will be seen that 9 added to 16 equals 25, the number of cells in the large square. If you make triangles with the sides 5, 12 and 13, or with 8, 15 and 17, you will get similar arithmetical proofs, for these are all "rational" right-angled triangles, but the law is equally true for all cases. Supposing we cut off the lower arm of a Greek cross and place it to the left of the upper arm, as in Fig. 28, then the square on EF added to the square on DE exactly equals a square on DF. Therefore we know that the square of DF will contain the same area as the cross. This fact we have proved practically by the solutions of the earlier puzzles of this series. But whatever length we give to DE and EF, we can never give the exact length of DF in numbers, because the triangle is not a "rational" one. But the law is none the less geometrically true.



Now look at Fig. 29, and you will see an elegant method for cutting a piece of wood of the shape of two squares (of any relative dimensions) into three pieces that will fit together and form a single square. If you mark off the distance ab equal to the side cd the directions of the cuts are very evident. From what we have just been considering, you will at once see why bc must be the length of the side of the new square. Make the experiment as often as you like, taking different relative proportions for the two squares, and you will find the rule always come true. If you make the two squares of exactly the same size, you will see that the diagonal of any square is always the side of a square that is twice the size. All this, which is so simple that anybody can understand it, is very essential to the solving of cutting-out puzzles. It is in fact the key to most of them. And it is all so beautiful that it seems a pity that it should not be familiar to everybody.

We will now go one step further and deal with the half-square. Take a square and cut it in half diagonally. Now try to discover how to cut this triangle into four pieces that will form a Greek cross. The solution is shown in Figs. 31 and 32. In this case it will be seen that we divide two of the sides of the triangle into three equal parts and the long side into four equal parts. Then the direction of the cuts will be easily found. It is a pretty puzzle, and a little more difficult than some of the others that I have given. It should be noted again that it would have been much easier to locate the cuts in the reverse puzzle of cutting the cross to form a half-square triangle.



Another ideal that the puzzle maker always keeps in mind is to contrive that there shall, if possible, be only one correct solution. Thus, in the case of the first puzzle, if we only require that a Greek cross shall be cut into four pieces to form a square, there is, as I have shown, an infinite number of different solutions. It makes a better puzzle to add the condition that all the four pieces shall be of the same size and shape, because it can then be solved in only one way, as in Figs. 8 and 9. In this way, too, a puzzle that is too easy to be interesting may be improved by such an addition. Let us take an example. We have seen in Fig. 28 that Fig. 33 can be cut into two pieces to form a Greek cross. I suppose an intelligent child would do it in five minutes. But suppose we say that the puzzle has to be solved with a piece of wood that has a bad knot in the position shown in Fig. 33—a knot that we must not attempt to cut through—then a solution in two pieces is barred out, and it becomes a more interesting puzzle to solve it in three pieces. I have shown in Figs. 33 and 34 one way of doing this, and it will be found entertaining to discover other ways of doing it. Of course I could bar out all these other ways by introducing more knots, and so reduce the puzzle to a single solution, but it would then be overloaded with conditions.

And this brings us to another point in seeking the ideal. Do not overload your conditions, or you will make your puzzle too complex to be interesting. The simpler the conditions of a puzzle are, the better. The solution may be as complex and difficult as you like, or as happens, but the conditions ought to be easily understood, or people will not attempt a solution.

If the reader were now asked "to cut a half-square into as few pieces as possible to form a Greek cross," he would probably produce our solution, Figs. 31-32, and confidently claim that he had solved the puzzle correctly. In this way he would be wrong, because it is not now stated that the square is to be divided diagonally. Although we should always observe the exact conditions of a puzzle we must not read into it conditions that are not there. Many puzzles are based entirely on the tendency that people have to do this.

The very first essential in solving a puzzle is to be sure that you understand the exact conditions. Now, if you divided your square in half so as to produce Fig. 35 it is possible to cut it into as few as three pieces to form a Greek cross. We thus save a piece.

I give another puzzle in Fig. 36. The dotted lines are added merely to show the correct proportions of the figure—a square of 25 cells with the four corner cells cut out. The puzzle is to cut this figure into five pieces that will form a Greek cross (entire) and a square.



The solution to the first of the two puzzles last given—to cut a rectangle of the shape of a half-square into three pieces that will form a Greek cross—is shown in Figs. 37 and 38. It will be seen that we divide the long sides of the oblong into six equal parts and the short sides into three equal parts, in order to get the points that will indicate the direction of the cuts. The reader should compare this solution with some of the previous illustrations. He will see, for example, that if we continue the cut that divides B and C in the cross, we get Fig. 15.



The other puzzle, like the one illustrated in Figs. 12 and 13, will show how useful a little arithmetic may sometimes prove to be in the solution of dissection puzzles. There are twenty-one of those little square cells into which our figure is subdivided, from which we have to form both a square and a Greek cross. Now, as the cross is built up of five squares, and 5 from 21 leaves 16—a square number—we ought easily to be led to the solution shown in Fig. 39. It will be seen that the cross is cut out entire, while the four remaining pieces form the square in Fig. 40.



Of course a half-square rectangle is the same as a double square, or two equal squares joined together. Therefore, if you want to solve the puzzle of cutting a Greek cross into four pieces to form two separate squares of the same size, all you have to do is to continue the short cut in Fig. 38 right across the cross, and you will have four pieces of the same size and shape. Now divide Fig. 37 into two equal squares by a horizontal cut midway and you will see the four pieces forming the two squares.



Cut a Greek cross into five pieces that will form two separate squares, one of which shall contain half the area of one of the arms of the cross. In further illustration of what I have already written, if the two squares of the same size A B C D and B C F E, in Fig. 41, are cut in the manner indicated by the dotted lines, the four pieces will form the large square A G E C. We thus see that the diagonal A C is the side of a square twice the size of A B C D. It is also clear that half the diagonal of any square is equal to the side of a square of half the area. Therefore, if the large square in the diagram is one of the arms of your cross, the small square is the size of one of the squares required in the puzzle.

The solution is shown in Figs. 42 and 43. It will be seen that the small square is cut out whole and the large square composed of the four pieces B, C, D, and E. After what I have written, the reader will have no difficulty in seeing that the square A is half the size of one of the arms of the cross, because the length of the diagonal of the former is clearly the same as the side of the latter. The thing is now self-evident. I have thus tried to show that some of these puzzles that many people are apt to regard as quite wonderful and bewildering, are really not difficult if only we use a little thought and judgment. In conclusion of this particular subject I will give four Greek cross puzzles, with detached solutions.

142.—THE SILK PATCHWORK.

The lady members of the Wilkinson family had made a simple patchwork quilt, as a small Christmas present, all composed of square pieces of the same size, as shown in the illustration. It only lacked the four corner pieces to make it complete. Somebody pointed out to them that if you unpicked the Greek cross in the middle and then cut the stitches along the dark joins, the four pieces all of the same size and shape would fit together and form a square. This the reader knows, from the solution in Fig. 39, is quite easily done. But George Wilkinson suddenly suggested to them this poser. He said, "Instead of picking out the cross entire, and forming the square from four equal pieces, can you cut out a square entire and four equal pieces that will form a perfect Greek cross?" The puzzle is, of course, now quite easy.

143.—TWO CROSSES FROM ONE.

Cut a Greek cross into five pieces that will form two such crosses, both of the same size. The solution of this puzzle is very beautiful.

144.—THE CROSS AND THE TRIANGLE.

Cut a Greek cross into six pieces that will form an equilateral triangle. This is another hard problem, and I will state here that a solution is practically impossible without a previous knowledge of my method of transforming an equilateral triangle into a square (see No. 26, "Canterbury Puzzles").

145.—THE FOLDED CROSS.

Cut out of paper a Greek cross; then so fold it that with a single straight cut of the scissors the four pieces produced will form a square.



VARIOUS DISSECTION PUZZLES.

We will now consider a small miscellaneous selection of cutting-out puzzles, varying in degrees of difficulty.

146.—AN EASY DISSECTION PUZZLE.

First, cut out a piece of paper or cardboard of the shape shown in the illustration. It will be seen at once that the proportions are simply those of a square attached to half of another similar square, divided diagonally. The puzzle is to cut it into four pieces all of precisely the same size and shape.

147.—AN EASY SQUARE PUZZLE.

If you take a rectangular piece of cardboard, twice as long as it is broad, and cut it in half diagonally, you will get two of the pieces shown in the illustration. The puzzle is with five such pieces of equal size to form a square. One of the pieces may be cut in two, but the others must be used intact.

148.—THE BUN PUZZLE.

THE three circles represent three buns, and it is simply required to show how these may be equally divided among four boys. The buns must be regarded as of equal thickness throughout and of equal thickness to each other. Of course, they must be cut into as few pieces as possible. To simplify it I will state the rather surprising fact that only five pieces are necessary, from which it will be seen that one boy gets his share in two pieces and the other three receive theirs in a single piece. I am aware that this statement "gives away" the puzzle, but it should not destroy its interest to those who like to discover the "reason why."

149.—THE CHOCOLATE SQUARES.

Here is a slab of chocolate, indented at the dotted lines so that the twenty squares can be easily separated. Make a copy of the slab in paper or cardboard and then try to cut it into nine pieces so that they will form four perfect squares all of exactly the same size.

150.—DISSECTING A MITRE.

The figure that is perplexing the carpenter in the illustration represents a mitre. It will be seen that its proportions are those of a square with one quarter removed. The puzzle is to cut it into five pieces that will fit together and form a perfect square. I show an attempt, published in America, to perform the feat in four pieces, based on what is known as the "step principle," but it is a fallacy.



We are told first to cut oft the pieces 1 and 2 and pack them into the triangular space marked off by the dotted line, and so form a rectangle.

So far, so good. Now, we are directed to apply the old step principle, as shown, and, by moving down the piece 4 one step, form the required square. But, unfortunately, it does not produce a square: only an oblong. Call the three long sides of the mitre 84 in. each. Then, before cutting the steps, our rectangle in three pieces will be 84 x 63. The steps must be 101/2 in. in height and 12 in. in breadth. Therefore, by moving down a step we reduce by 12 in. the side 84 in. and increase by 101/2 in. the side 63 in. Hence our final rectangle must be 72 in. x 731/2 in., which certainly is not a square! The fact is, the step principle can only be applied to rectangles with sides of particular relative lengths. For example, if the shorter side in this case were 61+5/7 (instead of 63), then the step method would apply. For the steps would then be 10+2/7 in. in height and 12 in. in breadth. Note that 61+5/7 x 84 = the square of 72. At present no solution has been found in four pieces, and I do not believe one possible.

151.—THE JOINER'S PROBLEM.

I have often had occasion to remark on the practical utility of puzzles, arising out of an application to the ordinary affairs of life of the little tricks and "wrinkles" that we learn while solving recreation problems.



The joiner, in the illustration, wants to cut the piece of wood into as few pieces as possible to form a square table-top, without any waste of material. How should he go to work? How many pieces would you require?

152.—ANOTHER JOINER'S PROBLEM.



A joiner had two pieces of wood of the shapes and relative proportions shown in the diagram. He wished to cut them into as few pieces as possible so that they could be fitted together, without waste, to form a perfectly square table-top. How should he have done it? There is no necessity to give measurements, for if the smaller piece (which is half a square) be made a little too large or a little too small it will not affect the method of solution.

153—A CUTTING-OUT PUZZLE.

Here is a little cutting-out poser. I take a strip of paper, measuring five inches by one inch, and, by cutting it into five pieces, the parts fit together and form a square, as shown in the illustration. Now, it is quite an interesting puzzle to discover how we can do this in only four pieces.



154.—MRS. HOBSON'S HEARTHRUG.



Mrs. Hobson's boy had an accident when playing with the fire, and burnt two of the corners of a pretty hearthrug. The damaged corners have been cut away, and it now has the appearance and proportions shown in my diagram. How is Mrs. Hobson to cut the rug into the fewest possible pieces that will fit together and form a perfectly square rug? It will be seen that the rug is in the proportions 36 x 27 (it does not matter whether we say inches or yards), and each piece cut away measured 12 and 6 on the outside.

155.—THE PENTAGON AND SQUARE.

I wonder how many of my readers, amongst those who have not given any close attention to the elements of geometry, could draw a regular pentagon, or five-sided figure, if they suddenly required to do so. A regular hexagon, or six-sided figure, is easy enough, for everybody knows that all you have to do is to describe a circle and then, taking the radius as the length of one of the sides, mark off the six points round the circumference. But a pentagon is quite another matter. So, as my puzzle has to do with the cutting up of a regular pentagon, it will perhaps be well if I first show my less experienced readers how this figure is to be correctly drawn. Describe a circle and draw the two lines H B and D G, in the diagram, through the centre at right angles. Now find the point A, midway between C and B. Next place the point of your compasses at A and with the distance A D describe the arc cutting H B at E. Then place the point of your compasses at D and with the distance D E describe the arc cutting the circumference at F. Now, D F is one of the sides of your pentagon, and you have simply to mark off the other sides round the circle. Quite simple when you know how, but otherwise somewhat of a poser.



Having formed your pentagon, the puzzle is to cut it into the fewest possible pieces that will fit together and form a perfect square.



156.—THE DISSECTED TRIANGLE.

A good puzzle is that which the gentleman in the illustration is showing to his friends. He has simply cut out of paper an equilateral triangle—that is, a triangle with all its three sides of the same length. He proposes that it shall be cut into five pieces in such a way that they will fit together and form either two or three smaller equilateral triangles, using all the material in each case. Can you discover how the cuts should be made?

Remember that when you have made your five pieces, you must be able, as desired, to put them together to form either the single original triangle or to form two triangles or to form three triangles—all equilateral.

157.—THE TABLE-TOP AND STOOLS.

I have frequently had occasion to show that the published answers to a great many of the oldest and most widely known puzzles are either quite incorrect or capable of improvement. I propose to consider the old poser of the table-top and stools that most of my readers have probably seen in some form or another in books compiled for the recreation of childhood.

The story is told that an economical and ingenious schoolmaster once wished to convert a circular table-top, for which he had no use, into seats for two oval stools, each with a hand-hole in the centre. He instructed the carpenter to make the cuts as in the illustration and then join the eight pieces together in the manner shown. So impressed was he with the ingenuity of his performance that he set the puzzle to his geometry class as a little study in dissection. But the remainder of the story has never been published, because, so it is said, it was a characteristic of the principals of academies that they would never admit that they could err. I get my information from a descendant of the original boy who had most reason to be interested in the matter.

The clever youth suggested modestly to the master that the hand-holes were too big, and that a small boy might perhaps fall through them. He therefore proposed another way of making the cuts that would get over this objection. For his impertinence he received such severe chastisement that he became convinced that the larger the hand-hole in the stools the more comfortable might they be.



Now what was the method the boy proposed?

Can you show how the circular table-top may be cut into eight pieces that will fit together and form two oval seats for stools (each of exactly the same size and shape) and each having similar hand-holes of smaller dimensions than in the case shown above? Of course, all the wood must be used.

158.—THE GREAT MONAD.



Here is a symbol of tremendous antiquity which is worthy of notice. It is borne on the Korean ensign and merchant flag, and has been adopted as a trade sign by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, though probably few are aware that it is the Great Monad, as shown in the sketch below. This sign is to the Chinaman what the cross is to the Christian. It is the sign of Deity and eternity, while the two parts into which the circle is divided are called the Yin and the Yan—the male and female forces of nature. A writer on the subject more than three thousand years ago is reported to have said in reference to it: "The illimitable produces the great extreme. The great extreme produces the two principles. The two principles produce the four quarters, and from the four quarters we develop the quadrature of the eight diagrams of Feuh-hi." I hope readers will not ask me to explain this, for I have not the slightest idea what it means. Yet I am persuaded that for ages the symbol has had occult and probably mathematical meanings for the esoteric student.

I will introduce the Monad in its elementary form. Here are three easy questions respecting this great symbol:—

(I.) Which has the greater area, the inner circle containing the Yin and the Yan, or the outer ring?

(II.) Divide the Yin and the Yan into four pieces of the same size and shape by one cut.

(III.) Divide the Yin and the Yan into four pieces of the same size, but different shape, by one straight cut.

159.—THE SQUARE OF VENEER.

The following represents a piece of wood in my possession, 5 in. square. By markings on the surface it is divided into twenty-five square inches. I want to discover a way of cutting this piece of wood into the fewest possible pieces that will fit together and form two perfect squares of different sizes and of known dimensions. But, unfortunately, at every one of the sixteen intersections of the cross lines a small nail has been driven in at some time or other, and my fret-saw will be injured if it comes in contact with any of these. I have therefore to find a method of doing the work that will not necessitate my cutting through any of those sixteen points. How is it to be done? Remember, the exact dimensions of the two squares must be given.



160.—THE TWO HORSESHOES.



Why horseshoes should be considered "lucky" is one of those things which no man can understand. It is a very old superstition, and John Aubrey (1626-1700) says, "Most houses at the West End of London have a horseshoe on the threshold." In Monmouth Street there were seventeen in 1813 and seven so late as 1855. Even Lord Nelson had one nailed to the mast of the ship Victory. To-day we find it more conducive to "good luck" to see that they are securely nailed on the feet of the horse we are about to drive.

Nevertheless, so far as the horseshoe, like the Swastika and other emblems that I have had occasion at times to deal with, has served to symbolize health, prosperity, and goodwill towards men, we may well treat it with a certain amount of respectful interest. May there not, moreover, be some esoteric or lost mathematical mystery concealed in the form of a horseshoe? I have been looking into this matter, and I wish to draw my readers' attention to the very remarkable fact that the pair of horseshoes shown in my illustration are related in a striking and beautiful manner to the circle, which is the symbol of eternity. I present this fact in the form of a simple problem, so that it may be seen how subtly this relation has been concealed for ages and ages. My readers will, I know, be pleased when they find the key to the mystery.

Cut out the two horseshoes carefully round the outline and then cut them into four pieces, all different in shape, that will fit together and form a perfect circle. Each shoe must be cut into two pieces and all the part of the horse's hoof contained within the outline is to be used and regarded as part of the area.

161.—THE BETSY ROSS PUZZLE.

A correspondent asked me to supply him with the solution to an old puzzle that is attributed to a certain Betsy Ross, of Philadelphia, who showed it to George Washington. It consists in so folding a piece of paper that with one clip of the scissors a five-pointed star of Freedom may be produced. Whether the story of the puzzle's origin is a true one or not I cannot say, but I have a print of the old house in Philadelphia where the lady is said to have lived, and I believe it still stands there. But my readers will doubtless be interested in the little poser.

Take a circular piece of paper and so fold it that with one cut of the scissors you can produce a perfect five-pointed star.

162.—THE CARDBOARD CHAIN.



Can you cut this chain out of a piece of cardboard without any join whatever? Every link is solid; without its having been split and afterwards joined at any place. It is an interesting old puzzle that I learnt as a child, but I have no knowledge as to its inventor.

163.—THE PAPER BOX.

It may be interesting to introduce here, though it is not strictly a puzzle, an ingenious method for making a paper box.

Take a square of stout paper and by successive foldings make all the creases indicated by the dotted lines in the illustration. Then cut away the eight little triangular pieces that are shaded, and cut through the paper along the dark lines. The second illustration shows the box half folded up, and the reader will have no difficulty in effecting its completion. Before folding up, the reader might cut out the circular piece indicated in the diagram, for a purpose I will now explain.

This box will be found to serve excellently for the production of vortex rings. These rings, which were discussed by Von Helmholtz in 1858, are most interesting, and the box (with the hole cut out) will produce them to perfection. Fill the box with tobacco smoke by blowing it gently through the hole. Now, if you hold it horizontally, and softly tap the side that is opposite to the hole, an immense number of perfect rings can be produced from one mouthful of smoke. It is best that there should be no currents of air in the room. People often do not realise that these rings are formed in the air when no smoke is used. The smoke only makes them visible. Now, one of these rings, if properly directed on its course, will travel across the room and put out the flame of a candle, and this feat is much more striking if you can manage to do it without the smoke. Of course, with a little practice, the rings may be blown from the mouth, but the box produces them in much greater perfection, and no skill whatever is required. Lord Kelvin propounded the theory that matter may consist of vortex rings in a fluid that fills all space, and by a development of the hypothesis he was able to explain chemical combination.

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164.—THE POTATO PUZZLE.

Take a circular slice of potato, place it on the table, and see into how large a number of pieces you can divide it with six cuts of a knife. Of course you must not readjust the pieces or pile them after a cut. What is the greatest number of pieces you can make?



The illustration shows how to make sixteen pieces. This can, of course, be easily beaten.

165.—THE SEVEN PIGS.



P P P P P P P

Here is a little puzzle that was put to one of the sons of Erin the other day and perplexed him unduly, for it is really quite easy. It will be seen from the illustration that he was shown a sketch of a square pen containing seven pigs. He was asked how he would intersect the pen with three straight fences so as to enclose every pig in a separate sty. In other words, all you have to do is to take your pencil and, with three straight strokes across the square, enclose each pig separately. Nothing could be simpler.



The Irishman complained that the pigs would not keep still while he was putting up the fences. He said that they would all flock together, or one obstinate beast would go into a corner and flock all by himself. It was pointed out to him that for the purposes of the puzzle the pigs were stationary. He answered that Irish pigs are not stationery—they are pork. Being persuaded to make the attempt, he drew three lines, one of which cut through a pig. When it was explained that this is not allowed, he protested that a pig was no use until you cut its throat. "Begorra, if it's bacon ye want without cutting your pig, it will be all gammon." We will not do the Irishman the injustice of suggesting that the miserable pun was intentional. However, he failed to solve the puzzle. Can you do it?

166.—THE LANDOWNER'S FENCES.

The landowner in the illustration is consulting with his bailiff over a rather puzzling little question. He has a large plan of one of his fields, in which there are eleven trees. Now, he wants to divide the field into just eleven enclosures by means of straight fences, so that every enclosure shall contain one tree as a shelter for his cattle. How is he to do it with as few fences as possible? Take your pencil and draw straight lines across the field until you have marked off the eleven enclosures (and no more), and then see how many fences you require. Of course the fences may cross one another.

167.—THE WIZARD'S CATS.



A wizard placed ten cats inside a magic circle as shown in our illustration, and hypnotized them so that they should remain stationary during his pleasure. He then proposed to draw three circles inside the large one, so that no cat could approach another cat without crossing a magic circle. Try to draw the three circles so that every cat has its own enclosure and cannot reach another cat without crossing a line.

168.—THE CHRISTMAS PUDDING.



"Speaking of Christmas puddings," said the host, as he glanced at the imposing delicacy at the other end of the table. "I am reminded of the fact that a friend gave me a new puzzle the other day respecting one. Here it is," he added, diving into his breast pocket.

"'Problem: To find the contents,' I suppose," said the Eton boy.

"No; the proof of that is in the eating. I will read you the conditions."

"'Cut the pudding into two parts, each of exactly the same size and shape, without touching any of the plums. The pudding is to be regarded as a flat disc, not as a sphere.'"

"Why should you regard a Christmas pudding as a disc? And why should any reasonable person ever wish to make such an accurate division?" asked the cynic.

"It is just a puzzle—a problem in dissection." All in turn had a look at the puzzle, but nobody succeeded in solving it. It is a little difficult unless you are acquainted with the principle involved in the making of such puddings, but easy enough when you know how it is done.

169.—A TANGRAM PARADOX.

Many pastimes of great antiquity, such as chess, have so developed and changed down the centuries that their original inventors would scarcely recognize them. This is not the case with Tangrams, a recreation that appears to be at least four thousand years old, that has apparently never been dormant, and that has not been altered or "improved upon" since the legendary Chinaman Tan first cut out the seven pieces shown in Diagram I. If you mark the point B, midway between A and C, on one side of a square of any size, and D, midway between C and E, on an adjoining side, the direction of the cuts is too obvious to need further explanation. Every design in this article is built up from the seven pieces of blackened cardboard. It will at once be understood that the possible combinations are infinite.



The late Mr. Sam Loyd, of New York, who published a small book of very ingenious designs, possessed the manuscripts of the late Mr. Challenor, who made a long and close study of Tangrams. This gentleman, it is said, records that there were originally seven books of Tangrams, compiled in China two thousand years before the Christian era. These books are so rare that, after forty years' residence in the country, he only succeeded in seeing perfect copies of the first and seventh volumes with fragments of the second. Portions of one of the books, printed in gold leaf upon parchment, were found in Peking by an English soldier and sold for three hundred pounds.

A few years ago a little book came into my possession, from the library of the late Lewis Carroll, entitled The Fashionable Chinese Puzzle. It contains three hundred and twenty-three Tangram designs, mostly nondescript geometrical figures, to be constructed from the seven pieces. It was "Published by J. and E. Wallis, 42 Skinner Street, and J. Wallis, Jun., Marine Library, Sidmouth" (South Devon). There is no date, but the following note fixes the time of publication pretty closely: "This ingenious contrivance has for some time past been the favourite amusement of the ex-Emperor Napoleon, who, being now in a debilitated state and living very retired, passes many hours a day in thus exercising his patience and ingenuity." The reader will find, as did the great exile, that much amusement, not wholly uninstructive, may be derived from forming the designs of others. He will find many of the illustrations to this article quite easy to build up, and some rather difficult. Every picture may thus be regarded as a puzzle.

But it is another pastime altogether to create new and original designs of a pictorial character, and it is surprising what extraordinary scope the Tangrams afford for producing pictures of real life—angular and often grotesque, it is true, but full of character. I give an example of a recumbent figure (2) that is particularly graceful, and only needs some slight reduction of its angularities to produce an entirely satisfactory outline.

As I have referred to the author of Alice in Wonderland, I give also my designs of the March Hare (3) and the Hatter (4). I also give an attempt at Napoleon (5), and a very excellent Red Indian with his Squaw by Mr. Loyd (6 and 7). A large number of other designs will be found in an article by me in The Strand Magazine for November, 1908.



On the appearance of this magazine article, the late Sir James Murray, the eminent philologist, tried, with that amazing industry that characterized all his work, to trace the word "tangram" to its source. At length he wrote as follows:—"One of my sons is a professor in the Anglo-Chinese college at Tientsin. Through him, his colleagues, and his students, I was able to make inquiries as to the alleged Tan among Chinese scholars. Our Chinese professor here (Oxford) also took an interest in the matter and obtained information from the secretary of the Chinese Legation in London, who is a very eminent representative of the Chinese literati."