Triangle, Square, & Other Polygon Puzzles 91- THREE TABLECLOTHS
Mrs. Crackham at the breakfast table recently announced that she had had
as a gift from an old friend three beautiful new tablecloths, each of which is
exactly four feet square. She asked the members of her family if they could
tell her the length of the side of the largest square table top that these three
cloths will together cover. They might be laid in any way so long as they cover
the surface, and she only wanted the answer to the nearest inch.- AN ARTIST'S PUZZLE
An artist wished to obtain a canvas for a painting which would allow for
the picture itself occupying 72 square inches, a margin of 4 inches on top and
on bottom, and 2 inches on each side. What are the smallest dimensions pos-
sible for such a canvas?- IN A GARDEN
"My friend Tompkins loves to spring on you little puzzling questions on
every occasion, but they are never very profound," said the Colonel. "I was
walking round his garden with him the other day when he pointed to a rec-
tangular flower bed, and said: 'If I had made that bed 2 feet broader and
3 feet longer it would have been 64 square feet larger; but if it had been 3 feet
broader and 2 feet longer it would then have been 68 square feet larger.
What is its length and breadth?'''- COUNTING THE TRIANGLES
Professor Rackbrane has just given
me the following puzzle as an example
of those that interested his party at
Christmas. Draw a pentagon, and
connect each point with every other
point by straight lines, as in the dia-
gram.
How many different triangles are
contained in this figure? To make it
quite clear, AFB, AGB, ACB, BFG,
A
Eo t;---+---T---~