Missing Square

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Science Math Geometry Triangle Shapes Square Missing Magic Illusion

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ZackScott
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Rearrange pieces of a triangle and a square goes missing. Is it magic or math?

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  1. Categories: Comedy, People & Stories, Science & Tech
  2. Favorite On: teamfresh fractals ahmd999
111 Comments | Add Comment
  • I will try to explain this so it is easi...

    The video says that the shapes are arranged in the shape of a triangle. It does look like a triangle, but it really isn't a triangle. The angle of the blue piece is NOT the same as the angle of the red piece. To understand this better, carefully draw it out on a piece of graph paper, (and this part is important) NOT by drawing a large triangle and filling it in, but by drawing each piece individually and making sure each individual piece is accurate. Now, make your eyes flat with the paper and look down the long side of the "triangle" you will see that in the first diagram it is "bowed" in a little bit, and the other diagram is "bowed" out a little bit. This difference in area is equal to, and therefore is compensated by, the one "missing" square. If you can't understand it from this, finish Jr. High

    By Davey B 1162791975 Reply Spam [+5] Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • There is no spoon...

    ...

    By Neophyte 1162588152 Reply Spam [+3] Moderate Up Moderate Down
    • not a big triangle with a hole in it.......

      the top shape is not a triangle. its a quadrehedrin. ( 4 sides ) the second shape below is not a triangle either, but an octihedrin. (8 sides ) the angle is fucked, but not enough to notice. we finally figured this thing out, after years of mind trama, and the solution, sadly has demystified the entire puzzle. it really is just an illusion. mathmatics is solid, and when its not, we enter the multidimentional world of superstring theories, but only the super nerdy even care enough to read this and smile.

      By bitz in peices 1162794739 Reply Spam [+2] Moderate Up Moderate Down
    • ridiculous

      I love these new math and shape videos. I don't go to school anymore but I love any brain teaser brought my way! Intrigue should be never ending.

      By fart blossom 1162780450 Reply Spam [+1] Moderate Up Moderate Down
      • old easy quize

        we have 2 triangle(blue & red) which is ture and 2 other shapes (yellow and green) but the problem that they are all together doesn't present the big triagnle as we think at the first. becosue the blue and red triangle diffreant angles.
        we can got that from calculating the shadow of each.
        let study the left angle of each triangle
        the red 3/8
        the blue 2/5
        so becouse 3/8 not equal 2/5 so these 2 triangle does not present a straight line when we put like this...so as a result they the 4 shapes does not present a big triangle.... they present another shape .....

        By digital_alpha 1162714623 Reply Spam [+1] Moderate Up Moderate Down
        • wrong

          3:8 = 13:5

          By vitorcapo 1162524669 Reply Spam [+1] Moderate Up Moderate Down
          • wrong again

            Sometimes you need to put the pencil down and take a step back. Ignore the numbers, look at the pattern. Analyse. Maths is far more elegant than simple division.

            By Inimbrium 1162884764 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
        • Answer is easy!

          The red and blue right angle triangles are different sizes! pretty cool illusion though!

          By Ragnarok3000 1206338600 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
          • maybe it is because

            coastlines have an infinite boundry length

            By teamfresh fractals 1197593173 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
            • didn't really pay attention

              there are a few puzzles like this, at the end of the day, count squares

              By ibetam 1181610796 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
              • FAKE

                FAKE

                By smurf king 1175981471 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                • cool math trick

                  http://www.metacafe.com/watch/441990/cool_math_trick/

                  By shortdude1619 1172197612 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                  • ??????

                    i found this out in grade 2

                    By youtube_sucks 1170194165 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                    • my story

                      oke... think of this...
                      red covers 12 squares
                      green covers 8 squares
                      yellow covers 7 squares
                      blue covers 5 squares
                      meaning... it will fit perfectly in 32 squares

                      in the second triangle.. you miss 1 square...
                      meaning it willbe 31 ive you count it as no color so you do 32-1 = 31
                      or ive you count it as a color.. it will be 32 plus 1 = 33
                      so that means you CAN fill it up with a random color, but he didnt... meaning he has 31.
                      but you can go to 2 differents way... according to math calculatings when you can go 2 different ways... you need to do situation 1 plus situation 2
                      meaning: 31 33 = 64
                      but since you can go 2 ways you need to divide 64 by 2 = 32

                      By woodswolf 1163787915 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                    • that was wierd and scary..

                      wheres my blankie...

                      By dickflop 1163685063 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                      • wtf

                        Iwould rather nail my head to a PLANK OF WOOD rather than try to figure out this shit

                        By BanjoBoy 1163624103 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                        • why

                          Only one question about it .....why did u post this

                          By el patcho 1163380886 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                          • DISREGARD ALL PREVIOUS POSTS!!!

                            The pieces that make up the triangle are not polygons (consisting of straight sides). The pieces that make up the hypoteneuse (did i spell that right?), or the longest side, are ever-so-slightly curved. In one configuration, the curve is concave (curves inward), and the "triangle" is whole. In another configuration, however, the curves of the pieces bend outwards and away, leaving an empty space. CORRECTION: Sorry, but I just remembered that ALL the pieces are curved.

                            By Tinglystix 1163379803 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                            • Mathemathic

                              Thales therorem, not
                              aligned points.

                              By Djienne 1163290975 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                              • WHO GIVES A F U C K?

                                It is a triangle cuz it has three sides!
                                He inverted the first pice ,therefore all pieces should have been inverted ! But he did not!
                                SIMPLE!

                                By heczy 1163185324 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                • suqare r same

                                  hey budyd if u count number of full square...they r 25.... n they r still 25 if u change the pattern... hope u got tat

                                  By vishalba 1163119588 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                  • hermmm!!!!

                                    who gives a sh*t.......

                                    By baumann 1163073191 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                    • simple...

                                      The blue triangle has a different slope from the whole "triangle", so it's not a triangle at all...

                                      By shanshansan 1163002968 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                      • tipu ni!!!

                                        nenek aku pOn leh buat!!!... trick jek lebih!! uppercase!!!

                                        By MeT4MorPH 1162986908 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                        • a simple explanation !!!!!

                                          Add some sugar in a glass some fruit and water and drink ! What's that ? Just water and sugar ... thats the same with the square that disappear! we just need to add some sugar because the fruit (red triangle) dont mix with the water if you don't "blend" it (blue triangle).

                                          By thiagosnow 1162936310 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                          • -1 clever

                                            but boring

                                            By share or p2p dies 1162917860 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                            • Exactly what he said

                                              Exactly what he said.... also there is no spoon

                                              By h0micidal apple 1162872618 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                              • ha

                                                Its got nothing to do with triangles its to do with how u arrange the shapes

                                                By matty365 1162845733 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                • wots the point

                                                  ther aint no missing square tho. wots the point to the experiment

                                                  By matty365 1162845362 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                  • Has anyone asked

                                                    Has anyone asked "the others"

                                                    I think Jack knows more than he's letting on too

                                                    By hawk299 1162818453 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                    • how about this...

                                                      back in high school, what i've learned about triangles is that, eventhough how many times you cut it, when you join the pieces back together, you could still form a straight line (like a straight edge as shown on the second triangle). SO WHO GIVES A DAMN FUCK ABOUT THE MISSING SQUARE!!! TO HELL WITH IT!!!

                                                      By loordXP+ 1162806230 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                      • Took similar puzzle to my math teacher 3...

                                                        and he told me never to bring him any more puzzles like this again! Personally, I think the missing square inch is lost in the gaps between the elements in the set.

                                                        By 2Winger 1162772430 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                        • triangles are diffrent

                                                          red triangle base is 8, height is 3, blue triangle base 5, height 2.there is no ratio between triangles

                                                          By since1453 1162751264 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                          • simple

                                                            on every figure that the triangle contains some milimeters missing. the missed milimteres when we add gives you that one blank square.

                                                            By Fane89 1162740652 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                            • The two shapes are not true triangles..

                                                              If this were a true triangle its area would be 32.5 squares (13*5/2).
                                                              In the first case the 'shape' only covers 32 squares (black 5sq, red 12sq, green

                                                              By Cabroncito 1162735436 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                            • you took it :|

                                                              it was you all along..

                                                              By nikon_slayer 1162713554 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                              • ewwww

                                                                the square probably went up your intriging ass ya nerd

                                                                By jermjerms 1162712804 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                • idiots.

                                                                  If You look at the top triangle, the gradient of the small red triangle is 3/8, and the blue triangle above it is 2/5.... therefore, these shapes arent actually triangles, but 4 sided shapes. This is how the missing square may be formed. WORD...

                                                                  By asdda 1162692479 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                  • you foools

                                                                    if you work out the angles in the triangles using san/cos/tan (sohcatoah) or something, youll find that the big triangle isnt actually a triangle, but a four sided shape.

                                                                    By maxjacobs1234 1162687326 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                  • =D

                                                                    Only math -discapacitated people would say this trick is stupid or boring, cause it's a very creative trick.

                                                                    By metacafe613 1162663605 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                    • btw

                                                                      The answer is that none of the 2 are real triangles, as the slope of the hypotenuse minor triangles are not equal, which would make the "hyppotenuse" of the big triangle not a line. The slpoes are very close though (.375 and .4), and thus we have a hard time seeing this.

                                                                      By metacafe613 1162663754 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                  • If you rearrange the pieces

                                                                    You have to add another square to match the top one, It never went missing

                                                                    By Inuk girl 1162658029 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                    • nice

                                                                      but i hope next time they tell us what the catch

                                                                      By brahim_tnwolf 1162633286 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                      • omg

                                                                        ,=more math lessons on mc

                                                                        By EnCos 1162589558 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                        • First Explanetion is the right one, ther...

                                                                          a

                                                                          By victor_isac_sb 1162569952 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                          • Exactly

                                                                            If you look closely, there are 4 sides.

                                                                            By ZackScott 1162574476 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                          • not so exactly

                                                                            the area of the 2 shapes (I said 2 shapes because with the missing square the second one isnt a triangle) is the same... BUT... they are not really 13x5 you just have too look to the 13 side... the first one doesn't fills the 13 squares... but the one with the missing square does... =\

                                                                            By SerialF 1162635538 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                        • up there

                                                                          the missing square is at the red triangle as u can see after rearrangement the 2nd triangle is one square higher than the first one...

                                                                          By OrgPUtihBODO 1162564791 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                          • Error de ubicación

                                                                            El amarillo esta en el lugar del verde y vice versa

                                                                            By Buscador 1162562304 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                            • its not a mathematical trick, its a stu...

                                                                              the sum of partial areas is not equal to the total triangle area, so the overall shape is NOT a triangle.. THE trick is the intersection point of the blue and red triangles which will not be exactly at the edge of the right angle of the square grid. the use of paper presentation rather than computer drawing is a must to wrap the paper at position ( -5, -3) so that the exact joining points of blue and red triangles as they are. besides the blue and red trgs. are not similar..


                                                                              By J - maze 1162560916 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                              • damn u and ur math

                                                                                why the f uck would u post math problems? there should be a filter for this kind of bogus edutainment.

                                                                                By dmnxx 1162560559 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                                • I HATE NEEEEEEEEEEEEEERDS

                                                                                  WTF

                                                                                  By jay man 1162547456 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                                • the triangles have four sides

                                                                                  The polygons made by arranging the two triangles (blue and red) and the other L shape areas (green and yellow) are NOT TRIANGLES. The agles of the red and blue triangles are different (except for the straight angle, of course), so their hypotenuses are not collinear. Therefore we're comparing two 4 sided polygons, not two triangles. This becomes more obvius if we calculate the area of the starting shape first by admitting it's a triangle (5x13/2=32.5) and then doing the same calculation by adding the area of each surface (5+12+7+8 =32). Obviously the starting shape is not a triangle, nor the second shape is and while the "hypotenuse" in the first case is concave, in the second case is convex.

                                                                                  Anyway, nice trick!

                                                                                  By gesx 1162546748 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                                  • u r really sad

                                                                                    .

                                                                                    By eire 1162577391 Reply Spam [+1] Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                                  • yes

                                                                                    REALLY REALLY SAD

                                                                                    By stena 1162745493 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                                  • no i think it's false

                                                                                    because it's not because the triangles are not the same look it very gooooood

                                                                                    By hamza_345 1162604349 Reply Spam [-1] Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                                  • THE RED AND BLUE ARE RIGHT TRIANGLES

                                                                                    Therefore the angles are the same. The answer to this is simple. Measure the distance between the right angles. The distance is different depending on what color is at the top. I know this may be confusing, but trust me, the red and blue have the same angles AND they are three sided.

                                                                                    By AliGrill 1162765590 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                                  • Precisely!

                                                                                    It's nice to sometimes have comments on here that are purely empirical and not emotional...Of course this an old trick, but still I appreciate your calm explanation to those who may not have been exposed to these kind of tricks...

                                                                                    By Just mois 1162763701 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                                  • That was the Perfect way to explain

                                                                                    Just allow me to add one more note to make it more clear; look carefuly at the Red & Blue triangles, put their Top Acute angles on each other, you will find that the base of the Blue one is NOT the same lenght of the Red one at that same depth (that means 2 squares less the Red one's top), the Blue one is 5 units in length while the Red one is about 5.2 units, & that proves "gesx" point that the two Red & Blue triangles are not the same.

                                                                                    But anyway, although it's an old trick, but I have to confess that it's is a really good one & it took me months to solve it out :)

                                                                                    By Johnnie_Habibos 1162606614 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                                  • you mean

                                                                                    very old trick!

                                                                                    By A A A 1162601067 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                                  • Thanks...

                                                                                    This is the explanation that I actually understood.

                                                                                    By Pow! 1162553268 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                                • goodness..

                                                                                  I'm amazed... I didn't believe in majerk before now,,,,derp.

                                                                                  By ru4angus 1162546591 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
                                                                                  • CALLING ALL MUSLIMS!

                                                                                    DID YOU FIND ALLAHS NAME IN THERE? I SWEAR IT WAS, THAT MISSING SQUARE IS PROOF THAT ALLAH IS REAL!! WOOOOOW!!

                                                                                    By aussie72 1162546143 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down