A reader asks: “[C]an you explain this geometry puzzle?,” pointing to the 8 x 8 = 5 x 13 puzzle that’s been making the rounds. He adds: Ever since I saw it, I’ve had a hard time concentrating on work. It seems to call into question an orderly universe, which is quite disturbing. Well, I […]
Archive | Puzzles
Famous European scientists and inventors, by country:
Here’s the puzzle for the week: For each of the following European countries or areas (basically those that now have a population of 4 million or more) — Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, […]
Concavity geography puzzle:
I got lots of responses to this puzzle, and many involved some quite interesting little corners of the world, where tendrils of one country snake a long distance into another. Nonetheless, I’ve come to think (together with reader Rich Rostrom, who also recommended this) that for the puzzle to be especially esthetically pleasing — an […]
New geography puzzle:
Reader Ross Durland offers this: Most countries have concave regions in their borders, where a neighboring country “bulges in.” For example, Canada bulges into the US up by the Great Lakes. If you wanted to fly from, say, Sault Ste. Marie, [MI], to Buffalo, NY, you could fly straight there going SE. That would only […]
Remnants of empire:
Once upon a time, European countries had lots of colonies and other depedencies throughout the world. Now they have relatively few, mostly small islands in the Caribbean Sea, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean. More broadly, there are many fewer dependencies, and more independent countries, than before. So here’s the question: What places in the world […]