SOLUTIONS
struct the perfect board, and the reverse problem of cutting these
particular pieces out will be found equally entertaining.
75.—The Spider and the Fly.
Though this problem was much discussed in the
Daily Mail
from
18th January to 7th February, 1905, when it appeared to create
great public interest, it was actually first propounded by me in the
Weekly Dispatch
of 14th June, 1903.
Imagine the room to be a cardboard box. Then the box may be cut
in various different ways so that the cardboard may be laid flat on the
1
12-ff
B
BO**.
42 ft-
FLOOR
2
-•''"
B
^^ ' •-
FLOOR
A
"
#
1
3
B '" FLOOR
--'A
4
B
y
FLOOR
~A '
table. I show four of these ways and indicate in every case the
\
relative positions of the spider and the fly and the straightened
course which the spider must take, without going off the cardboard.
These are the four most favourable cases, and it will be found that
the shortest route is in No. 4, for it is only 40 feet in length (add
175
