Sunday Telegraph Puzzles 30 Jan

[haggis362]

Just picked up the puzzle pages from ST 30th Jan and Ian Stewart's Mathematical Treasures No 94 'cutting a rug' has me stumped. The answer would have been in ST 6th Feb but I didn't get the ST that day... so if anyone has it could they please let me know what the solution is. For those who haven't got the puzzle ..... You have a rug 12 x 9 and cut off two 2 x 4 triangles from opposite corners (with the 2 on the 12 side and 4 on 9 side) so you're left with an oddly shaped hexagon (of area 100). There is then some way of cutting this shape into two that can be fitted together to make a 10x10 square. Help!

[Gizmonster]

http://forums.xkcd.com/ is your friend :)

I posted this on there and got a reply within 2 hours:

http://forums.xkcd.co...topic.php?f=3&t=68517

Click on the spoiler to reveal the answer.
When you've made the cut, up-jog the top section and slide it to the left and back down.

[haggis362]

Thanks very much Gizmonster. I wouldn't have come up with that in a month of Sundays! And useful link (forums.xkcd) for the future.