Most people would agree that the Pythagorean theorem is a fundamental part of geometry. As Abdul suggested, the trick with most of these sorts of puzzle is to draw a few lines and then apply Pythagoras. The real trick is to know which lines to draw!Anaxagoras wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 3:30 pm Yeah, there may be some principle of geometry that allows one to solve for x, but I don't know what it is.
Geometry puzzle
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Re: Geometry puzzle
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Re: Geometry puzzle
Interesting that ceptimus posted this over at ISF this morning and had two correct answers in less than an hour. I'll draw no conclusions.
"It is not I who is mad! It is I who is crazy!" -- Ren Hoek
"what dicking deep shit i produce" -- pillory
Freedom of choice
Is what you got
Freedom from choice
Is what you want
People are shitting themselves to death
Crap so much they fail to take a breath
But even when their kids are starvin'
They thought Trump would throw them Charmin.
"what dicking deep shit i produce" -- pillory
Freedom of choice
Is what you got
Freedom from choice
Is what you want
People are shitting themselves to death
Crap so much they fail to take a breath
But even when their kids are starvin'
They thought Trump would throw them Charmin.
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Re: Geometry puzzle
Without looking for the answer I'm going to guess that it's 9, but I can't show my work.
Either that or it's not a whole number.
Either that or it's not a whole number.
A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
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Re: Geometry puzzle
Abdul Alhazred wrote: ↑Thu Sep 17, 2020 3:13 pmIt's our old buddy correlation with population size at work.
More high school geometry students available?

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Re: Geometry puzzle
Math is hard
still working on Sophrosyne, but I will no doubt end up with Hubris
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Re: Geometry puzzle
Geometry even harder
still working on Sophrosyne, but I will no doubt end up with Hubris
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Re: Geometry puzzle
A back of the envelope calculation gives me 9. If that's correct I'll write up my solution. (If not I'll just hang my head in shame.)
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Re: Geometry puzzle
I’m an idiot
Last edited by robinson on Sat Sep 19, 2020 6:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
still working on Sophrosyne, but I will no doubt end up with Hubris
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Re: Geometry puzzle
Jesus fucking christ almighty
still working on Sophrosyne, but I will no doubt end up with Hubris
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Re: Geometry puzzle
It's like posting the Riemann Hypothesis in a puzzle forum. Then laughing like a maniac later that night.
still working on Sophrosyne, but I will no doubt end up with Hubris
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Re: Geometry puzzle
Here's a simple geometric proof by Pan Narrans (a poster at the Freethought Forum). Pan was actually the first poster to solve my posting of the puzzle, but I posted the puzzle there about the same time as here, and before I did at ISF, so the ISF guys were the fastest. I didn't invent the puzzle by the way - I first saw it posed in a YouTube "recommended for you" still - but I didn't watch the video and solved it myself instead.
AD = AE = AG = AK (the radius of the small circle)
similarly
BD = BF = BH = BL (the radius of the large circle)
Triangle ADK is an isosceles triangle, with A as its apex. The same goes for triangle BDL, with apex B. The "bases" of the two isosceles triangles (the non equal sides) are KD and DL. Note that the line AC is the same length as half the base of the small triangle plus half the base of the large triangle
AC = (KD + DL)/2, and we know that KD + DL = 6, so AC = 3
Now AG + AC + BH = 8 (the height of the rectangle)
Subtracting AC = 3 gives AG + BH = 5 (the sum of the radii)
Since AD + BD = AG + BH = 5, we have a 3/4/5 right triangle ABC with a hypotenuse (AB) 5 and one side (AC) 3, the other side (BC) must be 4.
X = AE + BF + BC = AG + BH + BC = 5 + 4 = 9
Pan did a clever proof using trigonometry and simultaneous equations, similar to Witness's, first, but then followed it up with this simpler geometric one.
The way I did it was something of a cheat. I reasoned that the puzzle wouldn't have been set unless it had a neat constant answer - not some horrible formula depending on the sizes of the circles drawn. So I figured I could make the smaller circle as small as I wanted without changing the answer. If you draw it with the small circle diameter zero, then you just have a rectangle with short side 8, and the large circle touching the bottom and right hand side of the rectangle and passing through the top left hand corner. The left hand edge of rectangle cuts a chord length 6 across the circle. Then the 3.4.5 triangle is immediately obvious, and you get the solution in a flash.
AD = AE = AG = AK (the radius of the small circle)
similarly
BD = BF = BH = BL (the radius of the large circle)
Triangle ADK is an isosceles triangle, with A as its apex. The same goes for triangle BDL, with apex B. The "bases" of the two isosceles triangles (the non equal sides) are KD and DL. Note that the line AC is the same length as half the base of the small triangle plus half the base of the large triangle
AC = (KD + DL)/2, and we know that KD + DL = 6, so AC = 3
Now AG + AC + BH = 8 (the height of the rectangle)
Subtracting AC = 3 gives AG + BH = 5 (the sum of the radii)
Since AD + BD = AG + BH = 5, we have a 3/4/5 right triangle ABC with a hypotenuse (AB) 5 and one side (AC) 3, the other side (BC) must be 4.
X = AE + BF + BC = AG + BH + BC = 5 + 4 = 9
Pan did a clever proof using trigonometry and simultaneous equations, similar to Witness's, first, but then followed it up with this simpler geometric one.
The way I did it was something of a cheat. I reasoned that the puzzle wouldn't have been set unless it had a neat constant answer - not some horrible formula depending on the sizes of the circles drawn. So I figured I could make the smaller circle as small as I wanted without changing the answer. If you draw it with the small circle diameter zero, then you just have a rectangle with short side 8, and the large circle touching the bottom and right hand side of the rectangle and passing through the top left hand corner. The left hand edge of rectangle cuts a chord length 6 across the circle. Then the 3.4.5 triangle is immediately obvious, and you get the solution in a flash.
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Re: Geometry puzzle
Finally got it. Messy and convoluted, but it works. That was fun.


Such potential!
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Re: Geometry puzzle
It was quite satisfying to see a 3,4,5 right triangle emerge from my mess. 

Such potential!
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Re: Geometry puzzle
Yeah, sometimes they emerge from my ass when I'm dropping a log.
"It is not I who is mad! It is I who is crazy!" -- Ren Hoek
"what dicking deep shit i produce" -- pillory
Freedom of choice
Is what you got
Freedom from choice
Is what you want
People are shitting themselves to death
Crap so much they fail to take a breath
But even when their kids are starvin'
They thought Trump would throw them Charmin.
"what dicking deep shit i produce" -- pillory
Freedom of choice
Is what you got
Freedom from choice
Is what you want
People are shitting themselves to death
Crap so much they fail to take a breath
But even when their kids are starvin'
They thought Trump would throw them Charmin.