Good puzzle: connect the six boxes without crossing any lines

boing
21

This is really easy…

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22

If they were mathematical lines, then the instructions would say line segments or it would be impossible to stay inside the box.

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23

That’s how I read it as well. By not allowing any line outside of a box or the containing rectangle, the solutions cannot be had.

24

I think it’s meant to be read as Cannot:

  • Go through or along any of the boxes
  • Go through, along, or outside the box containing them.

But yes, not well written.

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25

the solution includes lines that are outside the boxes. unsolvable as presented which makes the solution a big bowl of sugar free fuck you

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26

That’s some janky-ass wording in the question, man. Come on now.
http://replygif.net/i/1168.gif

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27

Disappointingly, most of this discussion is about the fact that, aside from its general meaning, “line” has a specialized meaning in geometry, which is not relevant here.

Mathematicians, like specialists of any kind, frequently repurpose existing words, rather than coining new ones, for concepts they invent. That’s often helpful when the meanings are related. It can cause problems when people forget the distinction. That’s a dumb mistake made most frequently by smart people.

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28

It’s common for these types of puzzles to use mathematical terminology. Hence, lines are assumed to be straight. I got stuck trying to figure out if 'rolling the paper would solve the puzzle without being “tricky.”

Now that the post has been edited, this reminds me of a game (iPhone/Android app) called Flow. It gets far more complex than this but it is essentially the same general idea. I recommend it.

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29

The word “line” implies the property of being straight, which is why drawn things that curve are called “curves”.

30

You could do this easily with straight line segments if the picture was on the surface of a sphere.

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31

Exactly. Line 3 goes all the way across, but neither of the other two do. So, simply connect the 1s, then the 2s, then use whatever path you have left over to connect the 3s.

And it doesn’t matter worth a damn that the lines aren’t straight. It never says straight lines. There’s no trickery of any kind involved, unless you want to assume that line always means straight line, and that’s a big unless.

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32

what about an outline? it’s by definition a line and also not straight

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33

I’m sorry that I did a lousy job of describing the problem!

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34

and you should be! :wink:

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35

Only by a narrow definition.

Laughter lines, outlines, road lines, boundary lines, state lines, line drawing, rail line, telephone line… Wait I might be getting off track…

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36

The lines can’t go beyond the bounds of the rectangle enclosing them.

It made perfect sense to me: I mentally drew a ‘line’ from one 3 to the other 3 along the boundary of the “rectangle enclosing them”, which left all the room in the world to connect the 1s and 2s inside. I didn’t go BEYOND the bounds, so it’s good.

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37

It wasn’t your description of the problem It was your description of the solution!
:open_mouth:

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38

haven’t read the solution, haven’t read the thread yet.

this is what I did

Screen shot 2017-01-05 at 7.03.32 PM.png696×500 62.4 KB

I guess it’s legal, it didn’t say not to do that?

EDIT

Draw a line connecting the two boxes labeled 1. Draw another line
connnecting the boxes labeled 2. Draw a third line connecting the boxes
labeled 3. The lines can’t intersect. The lines can’t go beyond the
bounds of the rectangle enclosing them. [ADD: The lines don’t have to be
straight.] There’s nothing tricky or disappointing about the solution

where are y’all getting [quote=“SamSam, post:16, topic:92341”]
The lines can’t go through, along, or outside any of the boxes
[/quote]

?
this negates my solution, but it got edited out?

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39

There is another solution. The instructions did not state you couldn’t transverse any of the other boxes, but rather must stay inside the large box. If you go vertical up from the left #1 to almost the top, then make a right and travel through the #3 box and then down to the other #1 you will have one line complete. Do the same with the line to connect the #2’s together, but when you go up stay below the previous line. Then all you have to do is draw a vertical line from one 3 to the other. This works, is simple “lines”, and within the bounds of the instructions.

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40

I know this one. You connect the 1s and 2s in the obvious fashion, then you jam your pen through the laptop screen and connect the 3s on the other side.

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