#43 Dividing Grandma鈥檚 field
Two brothers have inherited a plot of land from their grandmother. The map below shows that the land is made up of five identical squares, and the green dots indicate the location of four old oak trees.
There are two stipulations in Grandma鈥檚 will: First, the land must be divided so that the brothers get exactly half of the area each, and, second, each brother should have two of the trees on their land.
The brothers would love to divide the land with a single straight fence from one edge to another. Can you find a line for the fence that fulfils everyone鈥檚 wishes 鈥� and without you needing to do any measurement?
Answer next week
#42 Card conundrum
Solution
Bob鈥檚 solution to this equation was X = 21.
The formula was written on a card and when Amy picked up the card she must have looked at it upside down (see below).
The upside-down equation has two solutions: X = 3 and X = -3.
