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From: gjk@talcott.UUCP (Greg Kuperberg)
Newsgroups: net.jokes,net.puzzle
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Short-swords
Message-ID: <324@talcott.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 5-Mar-85 16:47:01 EST
Article-I.D.: talcott.324
Posted: Tue Mar  5 16:47:01 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 7-Mar-85 05:43:06 EST
References: <233@tekred.UUCP> <222@wuphys.UUCP> <101@ucbcad.UUCP>
Organization: Harvard
Lines: 45
Xref: watmath net.jokes:11228 net.puzzle:574

> > Hey Ron, if he cut the fly in four peices with only two
> > swords, shouldn't he have gotten first prize?!?!
> 
> Watch:
> 
> 	/-----\
> 	|     |_
> 	|      _|	<- Fly (sort of)
> 	|     |
> 	\----/
> 
> 	/-----\
> 	|     |_
>    |||====--------	One sword
> 	|     |
> 	\----/
> 
> 	   |
> 	/--|--\
> 	|__|__| 
> 	___|___  	A second sword
> 	|  #  |
> 	\--#-/
> 	   #
> 
> 	/-- --\
> 	|_| |_| 
> 	___ ___  	Four parts (count them)
> 	| | | |
> 	\-- -/
>     
> I hope this clairifies the matter.
> 
> 	Wayne

Ok, folks, and now for a puzzle:  If the man had used, say twenty,
short-swords instead of two, into how many pieces could he have cut up the
fly?  (Assume that the fly has a convex shape, and that its components do
not scatter after the first few swords, but merely separate a little, as
above.)
---
			Greg Kuperberg
		     harvard!talcott!gjk

"2*x^5-10*x+5=0 is not solvable by radicals." -Evariste Galois.