3 July
2019
Puzzle time!
Here is one that will have you think about shapes…
Tomorrow is 4th of July and we will be seeing a lot of flags flying proudly all over the USA. Did you know that there is only one country in the world whose flag is not rectangular in shape?
In any case, imagine a country that has a rectangular flag (See my poor rendering in red) with a smaller rectangle of different color inside it somewhere. (See my blue rectangle). Note that the blue rectangle can be anywhere and in any orientation.
Question is, can you cut the flag to make two identical pieces?
Answer:
First think of any rectangle. Draw a line that will leave two identical parts. (There are many many of them). Now try another (different) line that leaves two identical parts. Try a third one… fourth one… What is the common property you see? All these lines go thru the center of the rectangle. So, the key logic is that any line going thru the center of a rectangle divides it into two identical pieces.
Therefore that straight line that connects the center of the bigger rectangle and the center of the smaller rectangle will cut both the rectangles and hence the whole picture into two identical halves.