Chinese Tangram

The tangram is adissection puzzle. consists of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (given only an outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. It was originally invented inChina at some unknown point in history, and then carried over to Europe by trading ships in the early 19th century. It became very popular in Europe for a time then, and then again during World War I. It is one of the most populardissection puzzles in the world.

Instructions
1. Start out solving simple tangrams to get an idea of how pieces fit together. Some simple tangrams that you can solve include a pyramid, a square or a rectangle.

2. Look at each tangram piece before you start to solve the puzzle. Does the piece look different when it is flipped over? Upside down? Rotated left or right? Studying the pieces will give you an idea of how they would fit together.

3. Identify any sections the puzzle that fit an obvious shape. For example, you might have a square head or a large triangular skirt.

4. Before you remove a piece and decide it has a particular place in the puzzle, make note of what other pieces can also be combined to make that shape. For example, two small triangles can make a square. If you get stuck, you can substitute in the other pieces without having to start from the beginning.

Dot Puzzle
Game Instructions
In this game, your job is to rearrange a set of gray circles in a square playing field, in such a way that the red circles (already on the playing field) all lie exactly halfway between two gray dots. Another way of saying this, every red dot must be the midpoint of a line segment connecting two gray dots on the playing field. The following image is a simple 'Entrapment' puzzle. There are four red dots, and four gray dots.

In solving this puzzle, the first thing I notice is that one of the red dots is against a "wall". The only way to trap this dot is by placing two of my gray dots somewhere along that same wall, on either side of the red dot, and equidistant from it. I decide to try putting my dots directly

adjacent to it:

In studying the game board, I realize I can place my next dot in such a way that it traps two of the computer's dots simultaneously:

We're almost finished; we have one more dot to place, and that one dot must trap the computer's remaining red dot. Can you do it? Can you find two ways to place the remaining dot?

Puzzle Hint
Start out by trying some of the "Practice" puzzles. These are all puzzles which contain exactly three red and three gray dots. What you will discover is that most puzzle solutions are built aroundtriangles, so if you can master the easy puzzles, the more challenging puzzles can be broken down into smaller, more manageable pieces. The following blog entry explains a little bit more about the geometry of this puzzle: The Geometry Of Entrapment