Problem: The Forty-nine Stars

q332

The puzzle, in this case, is simply to take your pencil and, starting from one black star, strike out all the stars in twelve straight strokes, ending at the other black star. It will be seen that the attempt shown in the illustration requires fifteen strokes. Can you do it in twelve? Every turning must be made on a star, and the lines must be parallel to the sides and diagonals of the square, as shown. In this case, we are dealing with a chessboard of reduced dimensions, but only queen moves (without going outside the boundary as in the last case) are required.

Solutions: 1


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References

Project Gutenberg

  1. Dudeney, H. E.: "Amusements in Mathematics", The Authors' Club, 1917

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