Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine's Puzzles:

CSAIL Annual Meeting 2017 Puzzle

In what has become a regular event, Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine give out puzzles each year at our lab's Annual Meeting. Here is the 2017 edition.

This puzzle is inspired by a puzzle described in various sources (CAS Musings, Math in the Middle, YouTube). Let us know if you know the origin of this puzzle.


[72dpi] [150dpi] [PDF]

Rules

The puzzle starts as a 4 × 4 square with three parallel slits (of length 2). You can fold the puzzle only along the grid lines. There are four goals: to fold the 4 × 4 puzzle down to a 2 × 2 square that shows one of four patterns:

  1. The rule set (everything except the logos/seals)
  2. The MIT seal
  3. The CSAIL logo (actually an inversion of the logo, so it's the same upside-down)
  4. The MIT logo (actually an inversion of the logo, so it's the same upside-down)

The first two are relatively easy, while the last two are relatively hard. You can only get each of these patterns on one side of the folding. It doesn't matter what's on the other side of the folding.

Printing Notes

The puzzle was designed for color printing, but it will work fine on a black-and-white printer.

The PDF file is the best combination of printing quality and small file size. You will need a suitable viewer. Alternatively, you can print one of the images. If you can print images scaled to fit, use 150dpi. Otherwise, use 72dpi.

Last updated June 23, 2024 by Erik Demaine. — Accessibility