Sunday, November 8, 2009

Matchstick puzzles

Four matchsticks form a glass, as shown above. By moving only two matchsticks (and without moving the cherries), get the cherries out of the glass. You don't want to break the glass, so it should be in the same shape when you've finished.


Fourteen matchsticks are arranged to create four squares. Move only three matchsticks so that there are six squares. The matchsticks may not cross each other, and they cannot be broken. Every part of every matchstick must be part of a square (ie no loose ends).

Solutions have been posted

10 comments:

Eduard said...

First part.
Move the horizontal match a half unit sideward. Then move a vertical match toget a upside down cup.

Second part.
Number the matches linewise from 1 to 14. Then take away 1, 4 and 5 to get 4 isolated matches (these are 4 one's which are squares). On the table are left two geometrical squares. ;-)

miller said...

Hint! For the second one...

There is more than one way to create a square. For instance, the sides of the square could be of length two. The solution uses no less than three ways.

Secret Squïrrel said...

Match1 - Ed beat me again :-)

Match2 - Take the 3 left-most matchsticks. Use one to complete the 4-pane window. The other two each vertically bisect one of the 2 lower panes; ie there are 5 vertical sticks along the bottom.

Each pane of the window is a square and there is a 5th one on the bottom between the bisecting matches. The 6th square is formed by the outer frame of the window, 2 matches to a side.

The bisecting matches can also be placed across the top, down the left or down the right. For essentially the same structure rotated.

miller said...

Congratulations, you've solved them!

Secret Squïrrel said...

Yay!

One for you - how can you make 6 squares with only 12 matches? Same rules - no breaking, crossing, or left-overs.

Eduard said...

A cube in 3D !

Secret Squïrrel said...

Congrats. That's what I call thinking outside the box, except in this case you solve it by thinking of a box ;-)

Anonymous said...

Squares have equal sides right? The solution seem to be 2 squares and 4 rectangles.

miller said...

There are six squares: the 2x2 square, two 1x1 squares in the top row, and three 1x1 squares in the bottom row.

Anonymous said...

Got it!