January 29, 2008
Ed Pegg Jr, Scientific Information Group
Today (Tuesday, January 29) is International Puzzle Day. To celebrate, here are 16 puzzles from The Wolfram Demonstrations Project.
| Can 27 3×4×5 blocks be placed in a 12×12×12 box? How about 27 a×b×c blocks? |
Four identical shapes have an area of 64 or 65, depending on their arrangement. How? |
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| A box gets rolled around on a floor. After 5 topples, how many different places can it be? |
What is the connection between borders and map coloring? |
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| A tennis ball is thrown in a lake. What route allows the ball to be retrieved in the shortest time? |
If a square is divided into the above shapes, how many different ways can the square be made? |
| How many squares are in this grid of squares? |
You have a bag of marshmallows and a microwave. How can you measure the speed of light? |
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| Where should you stand so that a statue appears to be as large as possible? |
Can 10 trees be arranged so that there are 5 rows, each containing 4 trees? |
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| How many ways can 8 queens be placed on a chessboard so that none attack each other? |
What are the rules for the strange curves found on paper currency? |
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| Click on a square to change neighboring lights. How can all the lights be turned off? |
An urn holds 7 good balls, and 20 bad balls. If 5 balls are chosen, what are the odds that 2 will be good? |
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| Can you completely cover the orange shape with the given set of disks? |
Can a square be cut into 4 pieces and rearranged into an equilateral triangle? |
