Welcome! Start Here.

Welcome to growadandelion.ca! In this post we will talk about our website features that will get you started whether you are a visitor browsing through the creations we host or a creator looking to share your own with us.

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Number Line Mirrors

Starting with some points on a number line, if we put a mirror somewhere on the number line, it will reflect all existing points in itself so that the resulting set of points are symmetrical around it.

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Area-Bisecting Lines

Every line going through the center of a square bisects its area. Does every line going through the center of an equilateral triangle bisect its area too?

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Friendly Factor Pairs

The number 6 has two pairs of factors: 2x3 and 1x6.  These two pairs of factors are called friendly because the sum of one pair is equal to the difference of the other pair, ie. 2+3 = 6-1 = 5.

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Sierpinski Pyramid

Let’s remove the central portion of a regular tetrahedron such that what remains are 4 tetrahedrons each with half of the side length of the original.

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Beads in a Bracelet

We have a bracelet made of yellow and green beads, and we want to divide each coloured beads evenly among friends with the least number of cuts.

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Finding Paths

In this 4x4 grid, if we choose two squares, for which pairs of squares can we find a path from one square to the other, moving only vertically or horizontally at each step, and visiting every square in the grid exactly once?

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Crossing Numbers

From the list of numbers 1 to n, cross out every other number starting with the smallest and repeat the process with the remaining numbers until only one number is left.  What number would that be for a given n?

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Probability Thoughts

If the possible fairness of a coin is a continuum, the probability of the coin being exactly fair (50H/50T) is 0.  To begin exploring, let’s say the coin can only be rigged heads (100H/0T), fair (50H/50T), or rigged tails (0H/100T).

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Nonlinear Arrangements

Here’s an arrangement of the numbers 1 to 4, and what it looks like plotted into a 4x4 grid such that each row corresponds to a number in the arrangement.  Notice that the 3 dots on the bottom right form a straight line.

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Combination Lock

There’s a combination lock with a 3 digit code with no repeated digits, and for each of our attempts to guess the code it tells us the number of correct digits and ones in the correct places.

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Folding Squares

If we draw a line through the center of a square, we can fold the square in half along this line.  Depending on the angle this line makes with the horizontal, as shown in the diagram, the folded square will have different looks.

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Separating Numbers

Here’s one way to put a pair of 1s, a pair of 2s, and a pair of 3s in a row such that the pair of 1s have one number between them, the pair of 2s have two numbers between them, and the pair of 3s have three numbers between them:

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Squares in Squares

Let’s draw a smaller square inside a unit square by dividing out a fixed fraction of each side and connecting the dividing point to an opposite angle.

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Mod Cycle

Starting with 3, let’s double it and add one (or 2n+1), then modulate the answer by 14 (divide by 14 and take the remainder).  If we repeat these two steps, we get the first cycle.

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Splitting Ladder

Starting with a natural number at the top, we can split it at each level such that the two lower neighbours always add up to the higher neighbour.  Let’s repeat this process until a row can’t be split using whole numbers in the following row anymore.

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Jumping Tiles

In the following puzzle, each number indicates the distance (vertically, horizontally, or a combination of both) this tile needs to move.  A solution is a rearrangement of all the tiles in the grid that satisfies all the numbers where none of the tiles overlap.

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Balancing Numbers

Consider the set of natural numbers 1 to 8.  For this set of numbers, 6 is called the balance because the numbers before 6 add up to the same sum as the numbers after 6.  In other words, 1+2+3+4+5 = 7+8.

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Subtraction Polygons

Consider the subtraction game that goes like this: Write down one whole number at each corner of the square below, then fill in each side with the positive difference the two neighbouring corners and connect the four new numbers in a smaller square.  Repeat the subtraction to continue forming new squares in the middle.

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Tiling with Rods

The original problem asks for a combination of 1x2 and 1x3 rods that can tile a 5x5 square. Tiling problems have a tendency to get complicated quickly, so let’s start small.

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Two-Colourable Triangles

We start with a polygon and a number of points inside it.  We are asked to draw line segments between the points to subdivide the entire polygon into triangles.

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Fractions of a Square

The original problem asks to cut a square by drawing straight lines between any number of midpoints of sides and corners of the square such that a resulting region is 1/5 of the area of the whole square.

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3D Sudoku

Imagine instead of a two dimensional grid, we are now filling a 3D grid made up of nxnxn unit cubes with numbers 1 to n such that every row, column, and depth has exactly one of each number.

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Triangles in a Square

This problem is inspired by this geometry puzzle on Twitter. The original problem asks to find the ratio between two equilateral triangles fitted into a square.  Let’s generalize it.

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Variants of Sudoku

Today let’s explore one of the deviations from the standard sudoku rules that every row, column, and subgrid (excluded so we can generalize to non-perfect-square side lengths) must have exactly one of each number from 1 to n, where n is the side length of the sudoku puzzle.  Let’s include the new rule that a valid solution to a sudoku puzzle must also have one of each number in each of its two diagonals.

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Mini Sudoku

Sudoku is a one-player game where the player tries to fill the spaces of an nxn grid using numbers 1 to n, where n is a natural number, such that every column and every row contains exactly one of each number.

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Complete Scrambles

Consider trying to scramble a string of numbers, say 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, but with the requirement that none of the numbers can end up where they started.  Let’s define this as a complete scramble.

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Cube Solids

For all questions in this problem, let’s ignore the effects of gravity, which means higher unit cubes can float in space without lower unit cubes to support them.

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Triangle Average Divider

Let’s say instead of “bisecting” the triangle, we draw a line from the top vertex to the base with a length that is the average of the remaining two sides...

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Covering Squares

We choose one space in a rectangular grid made of unit squares, and we count the number of squares or rectangles that cover this space.

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Mirror Functions

Let’s consider all real valued functions whose inverse is the function itself.  Since the graphs of these functions are their own mirror images across the line y=x, let’s define these functions as mirror functions.

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Counting Rectangles Extended

Continuing from last week’s problem about counting squares, let’s look at the related problem of counting the number of rectangles in a grid, with extensions

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Water Jugs

Consider this family of popular puzzles:  You have two empty water jugs with no markings.  One holds exactly 8 liters of water when full, and the other holds 3 liters.  You also have a full tub with an endless supply of water and another large unmarked empty jug of unknown volume.  The goal is to measure out a given volume of water to put into the large jug using the other two jugs.

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Curve Stitching

Starting with a square, choose two points on the perimeter of the square to make a line, and then move both end points incrementally in the same direction (clockwise or counterclockwise) and the same distance along the perimeter of the square to make subsequent lines.

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Peg Solitaire

In a game of Peg Solitaire, 32 pegs are arranged in a cross shaped grid with the center peg removed. In each move, the player is allowed to move one peg over another, vertically or horizontally onto an empty space, and remove the peg that was jumped over. The game continues until no legal move is available, and the goal is to have as few pegs remaining as possible when the game ends. A perfect game would end with a single peg back in the center of the board.

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Tower of Hanoi

Tower of Hanoi is a one-player game using three vertical rods and a number of disks, all of different diameters.  The goal of the game is to move the entire pile of disks onto one of the other two pegs.

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Number Bases

The standard number system we use today is called decimal numbers, or base 10, meaning at every digit, we count to 9 before carrying one to the next smallest digit.

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Continued Fractions

A continued fraction is a way to represent any real number as a sequence of integers by writing down the integer part of the real number and taking the reciprocal of the remaining part at each iteration.

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Perfect Numbers

A perfect number is a natural number that is equal to the sum of all of its proper divisors (divisors that are less than the number itself).  For example, 6 is the smallest perfect number because its proper divisors, 1, 2, and 3, add up to exactly 6.

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Triangular and Trapezoidal Numbers

Triangular numbers and trapezoidal numbers are both natural numbers that can be expressed as the sum of more than one consecutive natural numbers.

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Connected Lights

Lights connected in a string or a loop, each attached to a switch that will change the state of the light itself and its neighbours when pressed.

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Irish Snap

Irish Snap is a multiplayer card game using the standard deck of 52 playing cards where each player takes turns laying down one face up card each while counting.  I.e. the first person says “ace” while laying down the first card; then the second person says “two” while laying down the next card.  This process is repeated until the card that has just been laid down matches the number the person just called.  When such a match happens, all players race to slap a hand on top of the pile of cards, and the slowest person has to take the pile into their hand.  The first person to empty their hand wins.

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11. 不快乐王子(上)

“等等,你怎么又写我死掉的故事?”灰灰生气地说。 “啊,真的!一不留神就又选了这样的故事。”小丹不好意思地挠了挠脸。“不过别急,这个王子还是这个故事的主角呢。”

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10. 梦境的通道

“后果?……控制?……”小丹眨眨眼睛。“我听糊涂了。第一,所有人都知道,梦里的事都是假的,哪来的什么后果?第二,——”

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烟花

小辉不喜欢烟花。烟花会让某个瞬间美得离谱,让人无法放手,却又怎么都抓不住。

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9. 失忆的王子殿下

灰灰接过布条就在身边的桌面上摊开,然后起身打开台灯,像模像样地读了起来。 “尊敬的……迪安斯特罗萨王子殿下……”

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金球

那是这个世界唯一的魔法,可以阻挡整个世界的寒冷。小轩隐约记得,里面有温暖的阳光,有带着花香的微风,有鸟叫声,有干净流动的泉水,还有人对他说: “安心住下吧,我会保护你的。”

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飞龙山之谜

从前有一座很高很陡峭的山,叫做飞龙山,山顶上有一个古老的飞龙巢穴。山脚下有个同样古老的村子,叫做翠石村,村民们以偷盗飞龙的宝石为生。村里有个习俗,每个刚满十三岁的孩子,不论男女,都要独自爬上山顶,拿到一颗宝石,然后安全回来。

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我见过的蚕宝宝

没有惊艳的体态,也没有漂亮的翅膀,一生只有40--50多天,可是人们却那么喜爱它们,亲切地称它们为蚕宝宝...

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孔融为什么让梨?

孔融看着粉丝转述的父亲的回忆,细细品着字里行间透着的自豪。其实这并不像父亲所说的,是个关于分享和谦让的故事,而是一个关于与人相处和说话方式的故事,但这一点只有孔融自己知道。 就当是细节,忽略不计吧。(687字)

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Welcome! Start Here.

Welcome to growadandelion.ca! In this post we will talk about our website features that will get you started whether you are a visitor browsing through the creations we host or a creator looking to share your own with us.

Continue Reading