Henry Ernest Dudeney/Modern Puzzles/117 - The Patchwork Quilt/Solution
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Modern Puzzles by Henry Ernest Dudeney: $117$
- The Patchwork Quilt
- Here is a patchwork quilt that was produced by two young ladies for some charitable purpose.
- When they came to join their work it was found that each lady had contributed a portion that was exactly the same size and shape.
- It is an amusing puzzle to discover just where these two portions are joined together.
- Can you divide the quilt into two parts, simply by cutting the stitches, so that the portions shall be of the same size and shape?
Solution
- Except for my warning the reader might have supposed that the dark zigzag line from $A$ to $B$ would solve the puzzle.
- But it will not, because the pieces are not of the same size and shape.
- It would be all right if we could go along the dotted line $D$ instead of $C$, but that would mean cutting a piece.
- We must cut out all the shaded portion on one piece, which will exactly match the other.
- One portion of the patchwork is drawn in just to guide the eye when comparing with the original.
Sources
- 1926: Henry Ernest Dudeney: Modern Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): Solutions: $117$. -- The Patchwork Quilt
- 1968: Henry Ernest Dudeney: 536 Puzzles & Curious Problems ... (previous) ... (next): Answers: $340$. The Patchwork Quilt