triangle in two

[mr. piper]

starting with a RH Triangle of 30, 40, 50m and dividing it in two at a perpendicular to the hypoteneuse then repeating the operation on both pieces, keeping the pieces from the second division in 4 piles. and continuing to divide each piece equally in the same manner except every 9th, 11th and 14th time when you leave 1 piece whole but then carry on to the next division after how many divisions will the combined area of all 4 piles be equal to the area of the original triangle? assuming that you could cut all the pieces with no wastage.

[Dsg]

Am I missing something here or will the total of all the smaller triangles ALWAYS equal the area of the original ?

[bernardo]

I got lost at the bit where it says "keeping the pieces from the second division in 4 piles.".  After the second division, there are only 4 pieces, so it doesn't make sense for them to be in "four piles".

[mr. piper]

DSG is correct, this is a pure con, it is all i can remember of a quiz that i was given in the states, you have to sift through it logically to realise that it is very simple

sorry BERNADO, i did get a bit bogged down, it's hard for me to write nonsense(ooh)