The Carpenter

Geometry fans will find here a fairly easy problem that can be solved through experimental methods, although there is also a scientific formula to find the correct answer that reminds of the famous proposition 47 of Euclid, or the Pythagoras theorem.

The carpenter has a piece of wood four -foot over 4 wide, with a cut corner. The riddle consists of Divide the table into the least possible number of pieces so that they can be helped to form a perfect square that serves to make a square table.

In this case the missing piece has been cut at an angle that mathematicians would call 15 degrees, but when you discover the response to the problem you will see that the same rule we apply can be used with any other angle, producing the same result.

The best result requires only two straight cuts and manages to form a square turning one of the pieces (a carpenter trick in which some of the Euclid followers did not think).

The one that the angle of d a b is more acute or less, does not make any difference. Trace a line from the center or left side and to the middle of the angle in C. Then draw the line at the right angle until reaching the corner G.