254.--THE MOTOR-CAR TOUR.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
In the above diagram the circles represent towns and the lines good roads. In just how many different ways can a motorist, starting from London (marked with an L), make a tour of all these towns, visiting every town once, and only once, on a tour, and always coming back to London on the last ride? The exact reverse of any route is not counted as different.
255.--THE LEVEL PUZZLE.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
This is a simple counting puzzle. In how many different ways can you spell out the word LEVEL by placing the point of your pencil on an L and then pa.s.sing along the lines from letter to letter. You may go in any direction, backwards or forwards. Of course you are not allowed to miss letters--that is to say, if you come to a letter you must use it.
256.--THE DIAMOND PUZZLE.
IN how many different ways may the word DIAMOND be read in the arrangement shown? You may start wherever you like at a D and go up or down, backwards or forwards, in and out, in any direction you like, so long as you always pa.s.s from one letter to another that adjoins it. How many ways are there?
[Ill.u.s.tration]
257.--THE DEIFIED PUZZLE.
In how many different ways may the word DEIFIED be read in this arrangement under the same conditions as in the last puzzle, with the addition that you can use any letters twice in the same reading?
[Ill.u.s.tration]
258.--THE VOTERS" PUZZLE.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Here we have, perhaps, the most interesting form of the puzzle. In how many different ways can you read the political injunction, "RISE TO VOTE, SIR," under the same conditions as before? In this case every reading of the palindrome requires the use of the central V as the middle letter.
259.--HANNAH"S PUZZLE.
A man was in love with a young lady whose Christian name was Hannah. When he asked her to be his wife she wrote down the letters of her name in this manner:-- H H H H H H H A A A A H H A N N A H H A N N A H H A A A A H H H H H H H and promised that she would be his if he could tell her correctly in how many different ways it was possible to spell out her name, always pa.s.sing from one letter to another that was adjacent. Diagonal steps are here allowed. Whether she did this merely to tease him or to test his cleverness is not recorded, but it is satisfactory to know that he succeeded. Would you have been equally successful? Take your pencil and try. You may start from any of the H"s and go backwards or forwards and in any direction, so long as all the letters in a spelling are adjoining one another. How many ways are there, no two exactly alike?
260.--THE HONEYCOMB PUZZLE.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Here is a little puzzle with the simplest possible conditions. Place the point of your pencil on a letter in one of the cells of the honeycomb, and trace out a very familiar proverb by pa.s.sing always from a cell to one that is contiguous to it. If you take the right route you will have visited every cell once, and only once. The puzzle is much easier than it looks.
261.--THE MONK AND THE BRIDGES.
In this case I give a rough plan of a river with an island and five bridges. On one side of the river is a monastery, and on the other side is seen a monk in the foreground. Now, the monk has decided that he will cross every bridge once, and only once, on his return to the monastery. This is, of course, quite easy to do, but on the way he thought to himself, "I wonder how many different routes there are from which I might have selected." Could you have told him? That is the puzzle. Take your pencil and trace out a route that will take you once over all the five bridges. Then trace out a second route, then a third, and see if you can count all the variations. You will find that the difficulty is twofold: you have to avoid dropping routes on the one hand and counting the same routes more than once on the other.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
COMBINATION AND GROUP PROBLEMS.
"A combination and a form indeed." Hamlet, iii. 4.
Various puzzles in this cla.s.s might be termed problems in the "geometry of situation," but their solution really depends on the theory of combinations which, in its turn, is derived directly from the theory of permutations. It has seemed convenient to include here certain group puzzles and enumerations that might, perhaps, with equal reason have been placed elsewhere; but readers are again asked not to be too critical about the cla.s.sification, which is very difficult and arbitrary. As I have included my problem of "The Round Table" (No. 273), perhaps a few remarks on another well-known problem of the same cla.s.s, known by the French as La Probleme des Menages, may be interesting. If n married ladies are seated at a round table in any determined order, in how many different ways may their n husbands be placed so that every man is between two ladies but never next to his own wife?
This difficult problem was first solved by Laisant, and the method shown in the following table is due to Moreau:-- 4 0 2 5 3 13 6 13 80 7 83 579 8 592 4738 9 4821 43387 10 43979 439792 The first column shows the number of married couples. The numbers in the second column are obtained in this way: 5 3 + 0 - 2 = 13; 6 13 + 3 + 2 = 83; 7 83 + 13 - 2 = 592; 8 592 + 83 + 2 = 4821; and so on. Find all the numbers, except 2, in the table, and the method will be evident. It will be noted that the 2 is subtracted when the first number (the number of couples) is odd, and added when that number is even. The numbers in the third column are obtained thus: 13 - 0 = 13; 83 - 3 = 80; 592 - 13 = 579; 4821 - 83 = 4738; and so on. The numbers in this last column give the required solutions. Thus, four husbands may be seated in two ways, five husbands may be placed in thirteen ways, and six husbands in eighty ways.
The following method, by Lucas, will show the remarkable way in which chessboard a.n.a.lysis may be applied to the solution of a circular problem of this kind. Divide a square into thirty-six cells, six by six, and strike out all the cells in the long diagonal from the bottom left-hand corner to the top right-hand corner, also the five cells in the diagonal next above it and the cell in the bottom right-hand corner. The answer for six couples will be the same as the number of ways in which you can place six rooks (not using the cancelled cells) so that no rook shall ever attack another rook. It will be found that the six rooks may be placed in eighty different ways, which agrees with the above table.
262.--THOSE FIFTEEN SHEEP.
A certain cyclopaedia has the following curious problem, I am told: "Place fifteen sheep in four pens so that there shall be the same number of sheep in each pen." No answer whatever is vouchsafed, so I thought I would investigate the matter. I saw that in dealing with apples or bricks the thing would appear to be quite impossible, since four times any number must be an even number, while fifteen is an odd number. I thought, therefore, that there must be some quality peculiar to the sheep that was not generally known. So I decided to interview some farmers on the subject. The first one pointed out that if we put one pen inside another, like the rings of a target, and placed all sheep in the smallest pen, it would be all right. But I objected to this, because you admittedly place all the sheep in one pen, not in four pens. The second man said that if I placed four sheep in each of three pens and three sheep in the last pen (that is fifteen sheep in all), and one of the ewes in the last pen had a lamb during the night, there would be the same number in each pen in the morning. This also failed to satisfy me.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
The third farmer said, "I"ve got four hurdle pens down in one of my fields, and a small flock of wethers, so if you will just step down with me I will show you how it is done." The ill.u.s.tration depicts my friend as he is about to demonstrate the matter to me. His lucid explanation was evidently that which was in the mind of the writer of the article in the cyclopaedia. What was it? Can you place those fifteen sheep?
263.--KING ARTHUR"S KNIGHTS.
King Arthur sat at the Round Table on three successive evenings with his knights--Beleobus, Caradoc, Driam, Eric, Floll, and Galahad--but on no occasion did any person have as his neighbour one who had before sat next to him. On the first evening they sat in alphabetical order round the table. But afterwards King Arthur arranged the two next sittings so that he might have Beleobus as near to him as possible and Galahad as far away from him as could be managed. How did he seat the knights to the best advantage, remembering that rule that no knight may have the same neighbour twice?
264.--THE CITY LUNCHEONS.
Twelve men connected with a large firm in the City of London sit down to luncheon together every day in the same room. The tables are small ones that only accommodate two persons at the same time. Can you show how these twelve men may lunch together on eleven days in pairs, so that no two of them shall ever sit twice together? We will represent the men by the first twelve letters of the alphabet, and suppose the first day"s pairing to be as follows-- (A B) (C D) (E F) (G H) (I J) (K L).
Then give any pairing you like for the next day, say-- (A C) (B D) (E G) (F H) (I K) (J L), and so on, until you have completed your eleven lines, with no pair ever occurring twice. There are a good many different arrangements possible. Try to find one of them.
265.--A PUZZLE FOR CARD-PLAYERS.
Twelve members of a club arranged to play bridge together on eleven evenings, but no player was ever to have the same partner more than once, or the same opponent more than twice. Can you draw up a scheme showing how they may all sit down at three tables every evening? Call the twelve players by the first twelve letters of the alphabet and try to group them.
266.--A TENNIS TOURNAMENT.
Four married couples played a "mixed double" tennis tournament, a man and a lady always playing against a man and a lady. But no person ever played with or against any other person more than once. Can you show how they all could have played together in the two courts on three successive days? This is a little puzzle of a quite practical kind, and it is just perplexing enough to be interesting.
267.--THE WRONG HATS.
"One of the most perplexing things I have come across lately," said Mr. Wilson, "is this. Eight men had been dining not wisely but too well at a certain London restaurant. They were the last to leave, but not one man was in a condition to identify his own hat. Now, considering that they took their hats at random, what are the chances that every man took a hat that did not belong to him?"
"The first thing," said Mr. Waterson, "is to see in how many different ways the eight hats could be taken."
"That is quite easy," Mr. Stubbs explained. "Multiply together the numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Let me see--half a minute--yes; there are 40,320 different ways."
"Now all you"ve got to do is to see in how many of these cases no man has his own hat," said Mr. Waterson.
"Thank you, I"m not taking any," said Mr. Packhurst. "I don"t envy the man who attempts the task of writing out all those forty-thousand-odd cases and then picking out the ones he wants."
They all agreed that life is not long enough for that sort of amus.e.m.e.nt; and as n.o.body saw any other way of getting at the answer, the matter was postponed indefinitely. Can you solve the puzzle?
268.--THE PEAL OF BELLS.
A correspondent, who is apparently much interested in campanology, asks me how he is to construct what he calls a "true and correct" peal for four bells. He says that every possible permutation of the four bells must be rung once, and once only. He adds that no bell must move more than one place at a time, that no bell must make more than two successive strokes in either the first or the last place, and that the last change must be able to pa.s.s into the first. These fantastic conditions will be found to be observed in the little peal for three bells, as follows:-- 1 2 3 2 1 3 2 3 1 3 2 1 3 1 2 1 3 2 How are we to give him a correct solution for his four bells?
269.--THREE MEN IN A BOAT.
A certain generous London manufacturer gives his workmen every year a week"s holiday at the seaside at his own expense. One year fifteen of his men paid a visit to Herne Bay. On the morning of their departure from London they were addressed by their employer, who expressed the hope that they would have a very pleasant time.
"I have been given to understand," he added, "that some of you fellows are very fond of rowing, so I propose on this occasion to provide you with this recreation, and at the same time give you an amusing little puzzle to solve. During the seven days that you are at Herne Bay every one of you will go out every day at the same time for a row, but there must always be three men in a boat and no more. No two men may ever go out in a boat together more than once, and no man is allowed to go out twice in the same boat. If you can manage to do this, and use as few different boats as possible, you may charge the firm with the expense."
One of the men tells me that the experience he has gained in such matters soon enabled him to work out the answer to the entire satisfaction of themselves and their employer. But the amusing part of the thing is that they never really solved the little mystery. I find their method to have been quite incorrect, and I think it will amuse my readers to discover how the men should have been placed in the boats. As their names happen to have been Andrews, Baker, Carter, Danby, Edwards, Frith, Gay, Hart, Isaacs, Jackson, Kent, Lang, Mason, Napper, and Onslow, we can call them by their initials and write out the five groups for each of the seven days in the following simple way: 1 2 3 4 5 First Day: (ABC) (DEF) (GHI) (JKL) (MNO).
The men within each pair of brackets are here seen to be in the same boat, and therefore A can never go out with B or with C again, and C can never go out again with B. The same applies to the other four boats. The figures show the number on the boat, so that A, B, or C, for example, can never go out in boat No. 1 again.
270.--THE GLa.s.s b.a.l.l.s.
A number of clever marksmen were staying at a country house, and the host, to provide a little amus.e.m.e.nt, suspended strings of gla.s.s b.a.l.l.s, as shown in the ill.u.s.tration, to be fired at. After they had all put their skill to a sufficient test, somebody asked the following question: "What is the total number of different ways in which these sixteen b.a.l.l.s may be broken, if we must always break the lowest ball that remains on any string?" Thus, one way would be to break all the four b.a.l.l.s on each string in succession, taking the strings from left to right. Another would be to break all the fourth b.a.l.l.s on the four strings first, then break the three remaining on the first string, then take the b.a.l.l.s on the three other strings alternately from right to left, and so on. There is such a vast number of different ways (since every little variation of order makes a different way) that one is apt to be at first impressed by the great difficulty of the problem. Yet it is really quite simple when once you have hit on the proper method of attacking it. How many different ways are there?
[Ill.u.s.tration]
271.--FIFTEEN LETTER PUZZLE.
ALE FOE HOD BGN CAB HEN JOG KFM HAG GEM MOB BFH FAN KIN JEK DFL JAM HIM GCL LJH AID JIB FCJ NJD OAK FIG HCK MLN BED OIL MCD BLK ICE CON DGK The above is the solution of a puzzle I gave in _t.i.t-bits_ in the summer of 1896. It was required to take the letters, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, and O, and with them form thirty-five groups of three letters so that the combinations should include the greatest number possible of common English words. No two letters may appear together in a group more than once. Thus, A and L having been together in ALE, must never be found together again; nor may A appear again in a group with E, nor L with E. These conditions will be found complied with in the above solution, and the number of words formed is twenty-one. Many persons have since tried hard to beat this number, but so far have not succeeded.
More than thirty-five combinations of the fifteen letters cannot be formed within the conditions. Theoretically, there cannot possibly be more than twenty-three words formed, because only this number of combinations is possible with a vowel or vowels in each. And as no English word can be formed from three of the given vowels (A, E, I, and O), we must reduce the number of possible words to twenty-two. This is correct theoretically, but practically that twenty-second word cannot be got in. If JEK, shown above, were a word it would be all right; but it is not, and no amount of juggling with the other letters has resulted in a better answer than the one shown. I should, say that proper nouns and abbreviations, such as Joe, Jim, Alf, Hal, Flo, Ike, etc., are disallowed.
Now, the present puzzle is a variation of the above. It is simply this: Instead of using the fifteen letters given, the reader is allowed to select any fifteen different letters of the alphabet that he may prefer. Then construct thirty-five groups in accordance with the conditions, and show as many good English words as possible.
272.--THE NINE SCHOOLBOYS.
This is a new and interesting companion puzzle to the "Fifteen Schoolgirls" (see solution of No. 269), and even in the simplest possible form in which I present it there are unquestionable difficulties. Nine schoolboys walk out in triplets on the six week days so that no boy ever walks side by side with any other boy more than once. How would you arrange them?
If we represent them by the first nine letters of the alphabet, they might be grouped on the first day as follows:-- A B C D E F G H I Then A can never walk again side by side with B, or B with C, or D with E, and so on. But A can, of course, walk side by side with C. It is here not a question of being together in the same triplet, but of walking side by side in a triplet. Under these conditions they can walk out on six days; under the "Schoolgirls" conditions they can only walk on four days.
273.--THE ROUND TABLE.
Seat the same n persons at a round table on (n - 1)(n - 2) -------------- 2 occasions so that no person shall ever have the same two neighbours twice. This is, of course, equivalent to saying that every person must sit once, and once only, between every possible pair.
274.--THE MOUSE-TRAP PUZZLE.
[Ill.u.s.tration 6 20 2 19 13 21 7 5 3 18 17 8 15 11 14 16 1 9 10 4 12 ]
This is a modern version, with a difference, of an old puzzle of the same name. Number twenty-one cards, 1, 2, 3, etc., up to 21, and place them in a circle in the particular order shown in the ill.u.s.tration. These cards represent mice. You start from any card, calling that card "one," and count, "one, two, three," etc., in a clockwise direction, and when your count agrees with the number on the card, you have made a "catch," and you remove the card. Then start at the next card, calling that "one," and try again to make another "catch." And so on. Supposing you start at 18, calling that card "one," your first "catch" will be 19. Remove 19 and your next "catch" is 10. Remove 10 and your next "catch" is 1. Remove the 1, and if you count up to 21 (you must never go beyond), you cannot make another "catch." Now, the ideal is to "catch" all the twenty-one mice, but this is not here possible, and if it were it would merely require twenty-one different trials, at the most, to succeed. But the reader may make any two cards change places before he begins. Thus, you can change the 6 with the 2, or the 7 with the 11, or any other pair. This can be done in several ways so as to enable you to "catch" all the twenty-one mice, if you then start at the right place. You may never pa.s.s over a "catch"; you must always remove the card and start afresh.
275.--THE SIXTEEN SHEEP.
[Ill.u.s.tration: +========================+ || | | | || || 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 || +-----+-----+-----+------+ || | | | || || 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 || +========================+ || || | || || || 0 || 0 | 0 || 0 || +-----+=====+=====+------+ || | || | || || 0 | 0 || 0 | 0 || +========================+ ]
Here is a new puzzle with matches and counters or coins. In the ill.u.s.tration the matches represent hurdles and the counters sheep. The sixteen hurdles on the outside, and the sheep, must be regarded as immovable; the puzzle has to do entirely with the nine hurdles on the inside. It will be seen that at present these nine hurdles enclose four groups of 8, 3, 3, and 2 sheep. The farmer requires to readjust some of the hurdles so as to enclose 6, 6, and 4 sheep. Can you do it by only replacing two hurdles? When you have succeeded, then try to do it by replacing three hurdles; then four, five, six, and seven in succession. Of course, the hurdles must be legitimately laid on the dotted lines, and no such tricks are allowed as leaving unconnected ends of hurdles, or two hurdles placed side by side, or merely making hurdles change places. In fact, the conditions are so simple that any farm labourer will understand it directly.
276.--THE EIGHT VILLAS.
In one of the outlying suburbs of London a man had a square plot of ground on which he decided to build eight villas, as shown in the ill.u.s.tration, with a common recreation ground in the middle. After the houses were completed, and all or some of them let, he discovered that the number of occupants in the three houses forming a side of the square was in every case nine. He did not state how the occupants were distributed, but I have shown by the numbers on the sides of the houses one way in which it might have happened. The puzzle is to discover the total number of ways in which all or any of the houses might be occupied, so that there should be nine persons on each side. In order that there may be no misunderstanding, I will explain that although B is what we call a reflection of A, these would count as two different arrangements, while C, if it is turned round, will give four arrangements; and if turned round in front of a mirror, four other arrangements. All eight must be counted.
[Ill.u.s.tration: / / / |2 | |5 | |2 | / / |5 | |5 | / / / |2 | |5 | |2 | +---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ | 1 | 6 | 2 | | 2 | 6 | 1 | | 1 | 6 | 2 | +---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ | 6 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 | | 4 | | 4 | +---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ | 2 | 6 | 1 | | 1 | 6 | 2 | | 4 | 2 | 3 | +---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ A B C ]
277.--COUNTER CROSSES.
All that we need for this puzzle is nine counters, numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. It will be seen that in the ill.u.s.tration A these are arranged so as to form a Greek cross, while in the case of B they form a Latin cross. In both cases the reader will find that the sum of the numbers in the upright of the cross is the same as the sum of the numbers in the horizontal arm. It is quite easy to hit on such an arrangement by trial, but the problem is to discover in exactly how many different ways it may be done in each case. Remember that reversals and reflections do not count as different. That is to say, if you turn this page round you get four arrangements of the Greek cross, and if you turn it round again in front of a mirror you will get four more. But these eight are all regarded as one and the same. Now, how many different ways are there in each case?
[Ill.u.s.tration: (1) (2) (2) (4) (5) (1) (6) (7) (3) (4) (9) (5) (6) (3) (7) (8) A (8) B (9) ]
278.--A DORMITORY PUZZLE.
In a certain convent there were eight large dormitories on one floor, approached by a spiral staircase in the centre, as shown in our plan. On an inspection one Monday by the abbess it was found that the south aspect was so much preferred that six times as many nuns slept on the south side as on each of the other three sides. She objected to this overcrowding, and ordered that it should be reduced. On Tuesday she found that five times as many slept on the south side as on each of the other sides. Again she complained. On Wednesday she found four times as many on the south side, on Thursday three times as many, and on Friday twice as many. Urging the nuns to further efforts, she was pleased to find on Sat.u.r.day that an equal number slept on each of the four sides of the house. What is the smallest number of nuns there could have been, and how might they have arranged themselves on each of the six nights? No room may ever be unoccupied.
[Ill.u.s.tration +---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+ | ||/| | | |-*-| | | |/|| | +---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+ ]
279.--THE BARRELS OF BALSAM.
A merchant of Bagdad had ten barrels of precious balsam for sale. They were numbered, and were arranged in two rows, one on top of the other, as shown in the picture. The smaller the number on the barrel, the greater was its value. So that the best quality was numbered "1" and the worst numbered "10," and all the other numbers of graduating values. Now, the rule of Ahmed a.s.san, the merchant, was that he never put a barrel either beneath or to the right of one of less value. The arrangement shown is, of course, the simplest way of complying with this condition. But there are many other ways--such, for example, as this:-- 1 2 5 7 8 3 4 6 9 10 Here, again, no barrel has a smaller number than itself on its right or beneath it. The puzzle is to discover in how many different ways the merchant of Bagdad might have arranged his barrels in the two rows without breaking his rule. Can you count the number of ways?
280.--BUILDING THE TETRAHEDRON.
I possess a tetrahedron, or triangular pyramid, formed of six sticks glued together, as shown in the ill.u.s.tration. Can you count correctly the number of different ways in which these six sticks might have been stuck together so as to form the pyramid?
Some friends worked at it together one evening, each person providing himself with six lucifer matches to aid his thoughts; but it was found that no two results were the same. You see, if we remove one of the sticks and turn it round the other way, that will be a different pyramid. If we make two of the sticks change places the result will again be different. But remember that every pyramid may be made to stand on either of its four sides without being a different one. How many ways are there altogether?
[Ill.u.s.tration]
281.--PAINTING A PYRAMID.
This puzzle concerns the painting of the four sides of a tetrahedron, or triangular pyramid. If you cut out a piece of cardboard of the triangular shape shown in Fig. 1, and then cut half through along the dotted lines, it will fold up and form a perfect triangular pyramid. And I would first remind my readers that the primary colours of the solar spectrum are seven--violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. When I was a child I was taught to remember these by the ungainly word formed by the initials of the colours, "Vibgyor."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
In how many different ways may the triangular pyramid be coloured, using in every case one, two, three, or four colours of the solar spectrum? Of course a side can only receive a single colour, and no side can be left uncoloured. But there is one point that I must make quite clear. The four sides are not to be regarded as individually distinct. That is to say, if you paint your pyramid as shown in Fig. 2 (where the bottom side is green and the other side that is out of view is yellow), and then paint another in the order shown in Fig. 3, these are really both the same and count as one way. For if you tilt over No. 2 to the right it will so fall as to represent No. 3. The avoidance of repet.i.tions of this kind is the real puzzle of the thing. If a coloured pyramid cannot be placed so that it exactly resembles in its colours and their relative order another pyramid, then they are different. Remember that one way would be to colour all the four sides red, another to colour two sides green, and the remaining sides yellow and blue; and so on.
282.--THE ANTIQUARY"S CHAIN.
An antiquary possessed a number of curious old links, which he took to a blacksmith, and told him to join together to form one straight piece of chain, with the sole condition that the two circular links were not to be together. The following ill.u.s.tration shows the appearance of the chain and the form of each link. Now, supposing the owner should separate the links again, and then take them to another smith and repeat his former instructions exactly, what are the chances against the links being put together exactly as they were by the first man? Remember that every successive link can be joined on to another in one of two ways, just as you can put a ring on your finger in two ways, or link your forefingers and thumbs in two ways.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
283.--THE FIFTEEN DOMINOES.
In this case we do not use the complete set of twenty-eight dominoes to be found in the ordinary box. We dispense with all those dominoes that have a five or a six on them and limit ourselves to the fifteen that remain, where the double-four is the highest.
In how many different ways may the fifteen dominoes be arranged in a straight line in accordance with the simple rule of the game that a number must always be placed against a similar number--that is, a four against a four, a blank against a blank, and so on? Left to right and right to left of the same arrangement are to be counted as two different ways.
384.--THE CROSS TARGET.
+-+-+ |*|*| +-+-+ |*|*| +-+-+-+-+-+-+ | | | |*| | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+ | | |*| |*| | +-+-+-+-+-+-+ | |*| +-+-+ | | | +-+-+ In the ill.u.s.tration we have a somewhat curious target designed by an eccentric sharpshooter. His idea was that in order to score you must hit four circles in as many shots so that those four shots shall form a square. It will be seen by the results recorded on the target that two attempts have been successful. The first man hit the four circles at the top of the cross, and thus formed his square. The second man intended to hit the four in the bottom arm, but his second shot, on the left, went too high. This compelled him to complete his four in a different way than he intended. It will thus be seen that though it is immaterial which circle you hit at the first shot, the second shot may commit you to a definite procedure if you are to get your square. Now, the puzzle is to say in just how many different ways it is possible to form a square on the target with four shots.