Flag Cutting
1. Can you cut this American flag with fifteen stripes into only two pieces which will fit together to form a thirteen stripe flag with no wasted material?
Did you know that the American flag actually had 15 stripes for a few years?
Excerpted from Wikipedia:
In 1795, the number of stars and stripes was increased from 13 to 15 (to reflect the entry of Vermont and Kentucky as states of the union). For a time the flag was not changed when subsequent states were admitted, probably because it was thought that this would cause too much clutter. It was the 15-star, 15-stripe flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner,” now the national anthem.
On April 4, 1818, a plan was passed by Congress at the suggestion of U.S. Naval Captain Samuel C. Reid in which the flag was changed to have 20 stars (to reflect the number of states at that time), with a new star to be added when any new state was admitted, but the number of stripes would be reduced to 13 – to honor the original colonies. The act specified that new flag designs should become official on the first July 4 (Independence Day) following admission of one or more new states. The most recent change, from 49 stars to 50, occurred in 1960 when the present design was chosen, after Hawaii gained statehood in August 1959. Before that, the admission of Alaska in January 1959 prompted the debut of a short-lived 49-star flag
As of July 4, 2007, the 50-star flag has become the longest rendition in use.
For more history of the US flag please visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_States#The_Flag_Resolution_of_1777
2. Can you cut this signal flag into two pieces which fit together to form a solid blue rectangle?
3.Can you cut this Swiss flag into two pieces which fit together to form a solid red rectangle?
And PLEASE don’t desecrate any actual flags while solving these puzzles!
[Credit to: Sam Loyd for this month’s puzzles]
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