Henry Ernest Dudeney/Modern Puzzles/126 - Drawing an Oval
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Modern Puzzles by Henry Ernest Dudeney: $126$
- Drawing an Oval
- It is well-known that you can draw an ellipse by sticking two pins into the paper, enclosing them with a loop of thread,
- and keeping the loop taut, running a pencil all the way round till you get back to the starting point.
- Suppose you want an ellipse with a given major axis and minor axis.
- How do you arrange the position of the pins, and what would be the length of the thread?
Dudeney's original article was unnecessarily prolix.
Click here for solution
Sources
- 1926: Henry Ernest Dudeney: Modern Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): Geometrical Problems: Various Geometrical Puzzles: $126$. -- Drawing an Oval
- 1968: Henry Ernest Dudeney: 536 Puzzles & Curious Problems ... (previous) ... (next): Geometrical Problems: Plane Geometry Puzzles: $304$. Drawing an Ellipse