Can you find nine different pieces?
Divide the big 5 into nine pieces of five cells each. Every piece must have a different shape, even after turning or flipping.
The clock starts when you reveal the puzzle.ONE BIG FIVE. NINE SMALL SHAPES.
Break up the five.
Keep every shape different.
Forty-five cells.
Nine ways to belong.
0 of 5 cells selected
YOUR DIFFERENT SHAPES
Tap or brush over five cells, then keep the piece. Tap a kept piece to remove it.AT YOUR OWN PACE
A brain snack, with room to think.
THE ANSWER OPENS ANOTHER DOOR
Now for the lovely part.
You have an answer. Explore how it works, then take the idea somewhere new.
See why it works ↓Keep your time
THE IDEA BEHIND YOUR ANSWER
Nine pieces.
Nine different identities.
Inspect the pieces in your own partition. Turn or reflect one and see what stays the same.
THE SHAPE BENEATH THE ORIENTATION
Turn it. Flip it. It is still that piece.
Moving a shape does not change which cells share sides. Neither does rotating or reflecting it. To compare two pieces, imagine moving each to the same corner and trying all its orientations.
Each piece in your answer has five connected cells. All nine have different shapes under that test, and together they use 9 × 5 = 45 cells. Counting the area was necessary; fitting different shapes into this outline was the real challenge.
There are twelve possible five-cell shapes when rotations and reflections count as the same. You used nine of them. A different partition still has to pass the same shape test.
The idea to take away
Separate a thing’s identity from how it is presented. Turning a piece changes its appearance, but keeps its structure.