[Guest]

Twelve wooden matches arranged in the form of square. Each match is two inch long which gives us square measuring 6 inches by 6 inches, so matches enclose area of 36 square inches. Now rearrange these matches into a shape that will enclose area of 12 square inches...

good luck...

and sorry in case puzzle is repeated one, I have seen in similar topic but i didn't find it ....

Edited May 26, 2011 by sks

[Guest]

one shape or could there be a shape within a shape?

[Guest]

Is to create 3 squares each with 4 match sticks, with each square being 4 inches square for a total of 12.

As far as I can tell, any shape which brings the above boxes together will create at least one free match to use, which can only increase the contained area. And I tried right triangle and equalateral triangle but those both went way over. Rectangle did not work and neither did a star-like group of squares. 3 separate squares works though.

[Guest]

one shape or could there be a shape within a shape?

one shape only..

Edited May 26, 2011 by sks

[Guest]

Is to create 3 squares each with 4 match sticks, with each square being 4 inches square for a total of 12.

As far as I can tell, any shape which brings the above boxes together will create at least one free match to use, which can only increase the contained area. And I tried right triangle and equalateral triangle but those both went way over. Rectangle did not work and neither did a star-like group of squares. 3 separate squares works though.

use all matches to form one shape only( can't use additional matches )..

Edited May 26, 2011 by sks

[Guest]

use all matches to form one shape only( can't use additional matches )..

I would not want any more matches. But can we burn one or two of them? Burning two would be great.

[Guest]

Make a 3x1 figure which will include 8 matches in the perimeter and arrange the rest in a zigzag fashion inde the box..

.

Edited May 26, 2011 by Silver Surfer

[Guest]

Make a 3x1 figure which will include 8 matches in the perimeter and arrange the rest in a zigzag fashion inde the box..

.

Then you can also make a square 2 matches x 2 matches and use the remaining four matches to make a diamond shape inside the bigger square. But I think that is not the idea.

[Guest]

As per your anwer the area would be 16 sq. incheches i think.. that is 4 x 4..

[Guest]

It will help if I am awake!!!!!EPIC FAIL! HAHAHA but then your idea was what I was intending to apply aswell.

As per your anwer the area would be 16 sq. incheches i think.. that is 4 x 4..

Edited May 26, 2011 by mailboy

[Guest]

Compress the original square of each side = 3 match sticks by the opposite corners. If x is the angle of the resulting rhombus, area of the rhombus will be 36 * Sin x. You can get any area between 0 to 36 by varying the angle x. The desired area of 12 sq inch will be obtained for x = Sin inverse 1/3

Compress the original square of each side = 3 match sticks. If x is the angle of the resulting rhombus, area of the rhombus will be 36 * Sin x. You can get any area between 0 to 36 by varying the angle x. The desired area of 12 sq inch will be obtained for x = Sin inverse 1/3

Twelve wooden matches arranged in the form of square. Each match is two inch long which gives us square measuring 6 inches by 6 inches, so matches enclose area of 36 square inches. Now rearrange these matches into a shape that will enclose area of 12 square inches...

good luck...

and sorry in case puzzle is repeated one, I have seen in similar topic but i didn't find it ....

Edited May 26, 2011 by Mukul Verma

[Yodell]

daaarn, i cannot seem to upload a pic (

it might have smth to do with security policy where I'm at right now..

i'll try again in the evening

q : do we have to use the matches head-to-head/tail .. or we can use H or T shaped figures to create a shape ?

[Guest]

It will help if I am awake!!!!!EPIC FAIL! HAHAHA but then your idea was what I was intending to apply aswell.

Yeah i understood the point. But that was the only thing i could come up with. And no offence intended.

[Guest]

Yours is a brilliant solution! Since the sticks start out connected and the angles are complimentary, you can change them at will, and just bring two sides closer and closer for the right area. I would only add that if you were doing this with real match sticks and did not have a protractor and way to figure sin, you could just bring two sides to within 1 match stick distance from each other perpendicular, for a 2 inch space, as another way to calculate the area for your rhombus is 6 times the perpendicular distance. And then shift one side up or down until 3 match sticks can connect them on either end. That would be the same shape and angles, just figured a different way.

Compress the original square of each side = 3 match sticks by the opposite corners. If x is the angle of the resulting rhombus, area of the rhombus will be 36 * Sin x. You can get any area between 0 to 36 by varying the angle x. The desired area of 12 sq inch will be obtained for x = Sin inverse 1/3

Edited May 26, 2011 by Nana7

[Guest]

Yours is a brilliant solution! Since the sticks start out connected and the angles are complimentary, you can change them at will, and just bring two sides closer and closer for the right area. I would only add that if you were doing this with real match sticks and did not have a protractor and way to figure sin, you could just bring two sides to within 1 match stick distance from each other perpendicular, for a 2 inch space, as another way to calculate the area for your rhombus is 6 times the perpendicular distance. And then shift one side up or down until 3 match sticks can connect them on either end. That would be the same shape and angles, just figured a different way.

Excellent Idea

[k-man]

My initial thinking was the same as Nana's and I don't see how this solution violates any of the OPs constraints. No matches need to be burned and the resulting shape has the desired area. Oh, and while I like Mukul's solution this one requires no calculations and can be performed by a child.

[Guest]

I think, this violates the condition of one shape only (entry #4). One shape requires that you can move from any point to any other without crossing the boundary.

My initial thinking was the same as Nana's and I don't see how this solution violates any of the OPs constraints. No matches need to be burned and the resulting shape has the desired area. Oh, and while I like Mukul's solution this one requires no calculations and can be performed by a child.

[Guest]

Twelve wooden matches arranged in the form of square. Each match is two inch long which gives us square measuring 6 inches by 6 inches, so matches enclose area of 36 square inches. Now rearrange these matches into a shape that will enclose area of 12 square inches...

good luck...

and sorry in case puzzle is repeated one, I have seen in similar topic but i didn't find it ....

sorry, for posting solution late..

as i wont be able to upload the pic as it don't supported by BD and I forgot also

again sorry for uploading

if we used the matches to form an equilateral triangle, the are within the triangle would be (6*8)/2=24 square inches

by stepping the four of the matches in(as shown in pic) we drop area of 12 square inches, which leaves us with an enclosed area of 12 square inches, the solution required

bad quality pic for the illustration

Edited June 15, 2011 by sks