Activity 11 - Puzzle K

I found this puzzle to be a little less challenging than the previous topological puzzles we've worked on. There were two reasons for this: I now have some understanding of how topology works, and I saw one of my classmates trying to work out the solution from a distance. Seeing the puzzle from a distance made it easier for me to work out in my mind.

Reefer Madness

This is a topological puzzle where in order to solve it the "knot" must be brought to the opposite side of the small loop to be undone.

It took me quite a while to solve this one, that is I was able to untie it, but was very confused when it came time to work it back into its original state. I ended up having to work backwards step by step.

Instant Insanity

Pt. 2

This is where I started. I then decided to flip the cubes over to see what I had to work with on the reverse side.

At this point I knew that the cubes with double blue and double green might present a problem. I played with them for a while and thought about it. I figured that I should focus on the blue and the green would naturally fall into place.

I had to make sure that all the blue faces were set to different sides of the sequence. Leaving the double blue in place I mainpulated cubes 1 and 3 - 4 not having a blue face.

Now that all the blue faces were on different sides the only piece left to play out was cube 4. Realizing that the other greens were on the still viewable sides, I just flipped cube 4 until the greens were on the unviewable side.

Voila!

Instant Insanity

Pt. 1

So the easiest way to solve the puzzle would be to set each cube in such a way that each color was displayed on one side. Cube 2 makes this an impossibility. So one must find a way around this small obstacle.

I began by eliminating all the extra sides (a.k.a. faces). I figured in order to solve the puzzle there should be four faces of each color in play/motion. That meant that 1 blue, 2 yellow, 2 green, and 3 reds should be out of motion.

I decided to line up the yellows, which inadvertantly aligned the reds, which gave me few options. I decided to eliminate the 2 reds opposite eachother on block 1, the 2 greens opposite eachother on block 2, the yellow/green on block 3,

and yellow/red on block 4. Now that the excess was eliminated I could work much more easily.

Questions

How are these two puzzles and the handcuffs puzzle related? What makes them topological puzzles?

They are all solved by making something pass through, rather around, something else. I suppose what makes them topological is that the puzzler, in solving them, must without literally extending any of the pieces make a way/space for the string to pass by. I'm not sure if that's a fully adequate explaination.

Plumbing Coupling Puzzle

First I made an attempt to solve this puzzle by pulling all the string to the center and unangling it there. This proved to be a fruitless pursuit. I only tangled it more.

I then worked it back to the way it originally was. At that point I decided it must be solved like the other topological puzzles. I thought on that and figured that if the knot could be brought outside it would be much simpler.

So I worked that out with the string and found a solution.

Plumbing Tee Puzzles

Once before I'd solved this puzzle in one of those educational toy stores or something of the like. So I didn't have to put much thought into it. I just repeated what I'd done that time.

F. The Factory Block (Success)

I threw that idea out the window. I decided the "with" in the instructions meant I must be allowed to move all the pieces.

I assumed that a square would be the easiest shape to divide into equal halves and finished with this.

F. The Factory Block (Failed Attempts)

At first I tried to solve the puzzle by only manipulating the three additional matches. I came out with some crazy stuff.

I was sure there had to be some way to resolve the issue by just playing with the three matches, but after several tries and no solution in sight ...

D. Out of the Glass

I stared at this one for a few minutes before trying any movements. In my staring I assumed that at least one of the sides had to remain in its place to become the stem of the upside down glass.

I then moved the pieces and reached the solution on my first try.