A Puzzle

Most recent answer: 10/22/2007

Q:
With no more than 1" of a ruler on a table, how can you hang a hammer from the ruler with a piece of string?
- Levi (age 12)
St John Neumann School, Manassas, VA, USA
A:
Levi -

There is almost always more than one way to solve this sort of problem. But they're all going to require you to "think outside the box." One idea that comes to my mind would depend on how much string you have and how big the table is. If the string is long enough, you could tie one end of it to the ruler, loop it over the top of the table, then back under the bottom of the table (so it goes all the way around). Then loop it once more over the ruler and hang the hammer from the bottom. But depending on the exact details of the situation, there will be other solutions. Try to see how many different solutions you can come up with!

-Tamara

(published on 10/22/2007)