A TREE (MATH) RIDDLE

Re: A TREE (MATH) RIDDLE


Plant them in a star. I tried to type it out, but it won't work. think of a 5 pointed star...

five lines, right? five points, right? what if each line consists of 4 trees?

draw the first line. You use four new trees. The next only needs 3, you use one from the last line as a point on this new line. The next uses 2, and the fourth needs one. the fifth line is already there if you planted the trees right. Draw it on paper.
4+3+2+1+0=10

the word "rows" is confusing due to its parallel connotation. define a row simply as a straight line, and you have five non-parallel rows forming a star with four trees in each row.

karakit ... welcome.

Do you have any idea how to solve the puzzle as it was stated? 4 rows of 5?

oops
ah, I see... I must have read it wrong... thank you for pointing that out to me... I'll think about it some more...

let's see... they're to be in a grove, nobody said in the ground of the grove... let's plant them in pots. 8 pots with one tree each, and 1 pot with 2 trees in it.

pots with 1 tree are G
the doubled pot is F
horizontal lines are used to maintain spacing and are irrelevant

_G_______G
___G___G
_____F
___G__G
_G______G

so we have 10 trees. two rows of pots that intersect. however, the central pot with two trees allows them to each be used twice.
if this is permitted, then this line \ has two potential rows in it. the same goes for the other line.

That's insane!


(I love it!)

thanks. I wasn't sure if the 2 tree pot wouldn't instead make it 4 rows of 6 each with 10 trees total... still, now I can confuse my math teacher for once... I should have the opportunity in about 3 minutes when class starts... :wink: