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![[Post New]](/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif) 20 Apr 2008 12:45:38 IST
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this paradox is better known as Missing Square Puzzle.
but in reality it is not a paradox at all.
read this for the revelation: "en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_square_puzzle"
The missing square puzzle is an optical illusion used in mathematics classes to help students reason about geometrical figures. It depicts two arrangements of shapes, each of which apparently forms a 13×5 right-angled triangle, but one of which has a 1×1 hole in it.
The key to the puzzle is the fact that neither of the 13×5 triangles has the same area as its component parts.
The four figures (the yellow, red, blue and green shapes) total 32 units of area, but the triangles are 13 wide and 5 tall, which equals 32.5 units. The blue triangle has a ratio of 5:2, while the red triangle has the ratio 8:3, and these are not the same ratio. So the apparent combined hypotenuse in each figure is actually bent.
The amount of bending is around 1/28th of a unit, which is difficult to see on the diagram of this puzzle. Note the grid point where the red and blue hypotenuses meet, and compare it to the same point on the other figure; the edge is slightly over or under the mark. Overlaying the hypotenuses from both figures results in a very thin parallelogram with the area of exactly one grid square, the same area "missing" from the second figure.
rate me if it helped u understand the puzzle.
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