Same Pieces, Different Result

wittywonka

Chocolate Expert

Posers and Puzzles

16 Feb 07

wittywonka

Chocolate Expert

Cocoa Mountains

Joined: 26 Nov 06
Moves: 19249

16 Feb 07

This may have been posted earlier, but I have not seen it, so here it is anyway. Take a look at the site below.

http://www.caughtatwork.net/freaky/view.php?itemid=11

Got an explanation?

BigDogg

Secret RHP coder

on the payroll

Joined: 26 Nov 04
Moves: 155080

16 Feb 07

Originally posted by wittywonka
This may have been posted earlier, but I have not seen it, so here it is anyway. Take a look at the site below.

http://www.caughtatwork.net/freaky/view.php?itemid=11

Got an explanation?

Yes. The slopes of the hypotenuses of the two inner triangles are not the same. Thus, neither combination of the 4 shapes makes a perfect right triangle. The top combination is like a right triangle with the hypotenuse bowed in, and the bottom combination is like a right triangle with the hypotenuse bowed out. This subtle difference in area compensates for the 'missing square' in the bottom combination.