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Puzzles

Light work

"I don't know if you are fond of puzzles, or not. If you are, try this. ... A gentleman (a nobleman let us say, to make it more interesting) had a sitting-room with only one window in it—a square window, 3 feet high and 3 feet wide. Now he had weak eyes, and the window gave too much light, so (don't you like 'so' in a story?) he sent for the builder, and told him to alter it, so as only to give half the light. Only, he was to keep it square—he was to keep it 3 feet high—and he was to keep it 3 feet wide. How did he do it? Remember, he wasn't allowed to use curtains, or shutters, or coloured glass, or anything of that sort."

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Chessboard squares

It was once claimed that there are 204 squares on a chessboard. Can you justify this claim?

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Equal areas

An equilateral triangle and a square have the same area. What is the ratio of the perimeter of the triangle to the perimeter of the square?

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