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Card trick

Joe gave Penny a rectangular piece of card 12 centimetres by 6 centimetres with the instruction that she had to draw four straight lines out from the centre of the card to an edge, each a whole number of centimetres long, so that, by cutting along two of the lines, a piece of card with an area equal to any multiple of 6 square centimetres (from 1 to 6) can be produced.

What will the total length of the four lines be?

WIN £15 will be awarded to the sender of the first correct answer opened on Wednesday 2 September. The Editor’s decision is final. Please send entries to Enigma 1556, ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ, Lacon House, 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8NS, or to enigma@newscientist.com (please include your postal address).

Answer to 1550 Eightman band: EIGHTMAN is 28763415

The winner Alan Beasley of Monkland, Herefordshire, UK