The T, H, and M Puzzles

I strongly dislike the T. The T puzzle was the most difficult for me of the three tangrams. I spent the entire class period trying to figure this one out. Eventually I sat staring at the odd shaped piece in frustration trying to decide which way it should be placed. It wasn't until one of my classmates tilted the center piece and told me to think about it that way that things started to click.


The H was less difficult than the T, but still not very easy. When thinking of the letter H I made the observation that there are only 3 or 5 lines in it, depending on one's perspective. Since there were 6 pieces to the puzzle it meant either that one of these lines was or all of them were. So I figured the pieces must overlap in some way. After a few unsuccessful tries, I decided to draw an H and then fit the shapes into my drawing. When doing so I realized that there were really only 3 pairs of shapes. This meant that once I solved one side of the puzzle the other side would merely be a reflection or symetrical equivalent. It wasn't long after that that I found a solution.

The M was the easiest for me, because I assumed from the beginning that the largest piece had to be one of the two top corners thus limiting my choices for the placement of the rest of the shapes.