A nobleman had a sitting-room with only one window in it - a square window, 1 meter high and 1 meter wide - as is shown in the diagram. He had weak eyes, and the window gave too much light. He sent for the builder, and told him to alter the window, so as to give half the light. Only he was to keep it square - the same 1 meter high and 1 meter wide. How did he do it? The builder wasn't allowed to use curtains, or shutters, or colored glass, or anything of that sort.
8 comments:
He rotated it. Assuming there was room in the wall to do so.
I imagine you'd only have to rotate it 45 degrees.
So no post about how I smart I am this time and or even acknowledging that I'm correct? :P
Apparently the solution didn't occur to anyone else.
It's a retelling of the problem posed by Lewis Carroll in a letter to Helen Fielden, then fourteen, which he wrote in March 1873.
I'm begining to think you might be cheating.. :)
If by cheating you mean, have an uncanny intellect, then yes. :P
Hmm... after googling your reference that isn't the solution I proposed. Doing so would appear to conflict with the rules, as you'd be adding more wood to the window, essentially wooden curtains.
I was assuming by window (1m by 1m) that you meant the pane of glass had to be the same. My suggestion then was to rotate it vertically 45 degrees. This obviously would create a thickness to the window and it would in turn not be square, but the pane would be the same pane as used before.
Curtains cover a portion of the window, restricting the amount of light. Turning it 45 degrees and making the surface area of the window smaller is the solution, while still being 1 meter tall and 1 meter wide. The adding of the wood to fill in the lost window surface area isn't a covering and thus not a violation of the problem.
The problem says it has to be square..
So I guess you got it wrong then.
Well. My pane was still square. :) so I'm calling it a win. :). At least after explaining my solution it's obvious I didn't look it up and thus do not cheat. :)
Ya.. but now my source is burned..
I think I'll give you a mulligan on this one. Not sure if you were right or wrong, so we'll leave it at that.
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