Tangram

Tangram ({{zh-cpl|c=???|p=q? qi?o b?n|l=seven boards of cunning}}) is a Chinese puzzle. While the tangram is often said to be ancient, its existence has only been verified as far back as 1800.

Related Topics:
Chinese - Puzzle - 1800

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It consists of 7 pieces, called tans, which fit together to form a square; taking the square as the unit:

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• 5 right isosceles triangles
• 2 small (legs of 1)
• 1 medium size (legs of $sqrt\{2\}$)
• 2 large size (legs of 2)
• 1 square (side of 1)
• 1 parallelogram (sides of 1 and $sqrt\{2\}$)

The objective is to form a given shape with seven pieces. The shape has to contain all the pieces, which must not overlap.

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It is said that the Pythagorean theorem was discovered in the Orient with help of tangram pieces. Jacob Bronowski on his television series The Ascent of Man demonstrated a method of proving the Theorem using pieces similar to those of the tangram, saying that the Pythagoreans may have used this method.

Related Topics:
Pythagorean theorem - Jacob Bronowski - The Ascent of Man - Pythagoreans

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The puzzler Sam Loyd devised many tangram puzzles. Lewis Carroll reputedly was a great enthusiast of tangrams and possessed a Chinese book with tissue-thin leaves containing 323 tangram designs. Napoleon allegedly passed his time on working with tangrams in Elba.

Related Topics:
Sam Loyd - Lewis Carroll - Napoleon - Elba

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Tangram is said to have been brought to America by Western sailors who stopped in China during the opium trade, however there is no evidence to support this claim.

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The word "tangram" has no meaning in Chinese; the English word is built from TANG + GRAM. In the Cantonese dialect, Tang (?) is a synonym of "Chinese".

Related Topics:
Chinese - Tang

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Tangram: Making a set of tans ►