Brain Teaser that is impossibly solvable

[kerryfan]

Is this the solution?

I was given this problem as a brain teaser and am wondering if I've found the solution (see attachment) or if there is a solution besides cheating, use a marker, etc. This has been driving me nuts, please help if you know the answer.
Thanks

 

[cogito²]

I was given this problem as a brain teaser and am wondering if I've found the solution (see attachment) or if there is a solution besides cheating, use a marker, etc. This has been driving me nuts, please help if you know the answer.
Thanks

If going through a corner counts as going through all three then yes this is a solution. If that is not allowed then there is no solution as has been shown like 10 times throughout this thread. It depends on what conditions you put on the problem. So you decide: is that a solution?

 

[BTruesdell07]

make it really small then draw through it with a thick marker covering the entire puzzle. You go through every line only once.

 

[Sisco424]

Hi,
I've been lookin for the answer to this on the internet because one of my teachers was offering a small cash reward to whoever could solve it and i now know that it is possible because my friend printed a picture of it completed off the net but i just got a quick glance and he took it away thinkin that we was going to steal his answer, i just want to figure it out cause its driving me crazy so if someone finds the answer tell me. It is definately possible

 

[BigStelly]

This has been seen to be impossible for several centuries ever since Euhler proved it was. This comes from the bridges of Konisberg and for centuries nobody figured out a way to cross all the bridges once and only once without crossing back over their path, Because its impossible.

 

[Data]

Sisco424, you will impress your teacher more if you take a book on Graph Theory out of the library, learn about the question, and prove that it is impossible in front of your class :)

If you want a bunch of "completed solutions" then just look through this thread: All of them either cheat or miss a side.

There is a very good reason for this.

 

[animejunkie1100]

I have worked on it for like a year almost and still can't find the answer please help!

 

[d_leet]

I have worked on it for like a year almost and still can't find the answer please help!

This is because, as many people have mentioned in this thread, that it is impossible and has been proven impossible.

 

[-Job-]

You can convert the problem to the attached graph.
The problem can be solved only if you can find a path that goes through every edge exactly once. Such a path is called a Euler path, or Euler tour. Euler showed that a graph can only contain such a path if either all or all but two nodes have an even degree. The graph corresponding to this problem has 4 nodes of odd degree and two of even degree, so it can't contain a Euler tour.

 

[ValenceE]

Hello to all !,

Guys, if we accept the fact that any corner is the junction of as many sides as are connected, then there’s a way to solve this puzzle. Actually there’s probably more than one way, but here’s what one of them looks like.

It also has a neat shape to it…


VE

edited to replace .jpg file by .bmp

 

[nerd_police]

can we enter a line, then trace along it for a while without having "crossed it twice"

 

[Tclack]

___________
|_____|_____|
|__|_____|__|

This is basically what the image looks like, and yes it is impossible. If you look, you'll see any rectangle has either 4 or 5 sides (even or odd). Now if you were to start inside an odd one, you eventually would have to end up on the outside and if there were two odd box's it would be fine but there are three... it's hard to explain, but it's impossible. I actually devised a way to find out whether or not a puzzle like this is impossible or possible. First add up all the rectangles with even "doorways" and odd ones. Cancel every even with every even, and every odd with every odd. I found that's it's not possible if you end up with an odd. It's possible: if they all cancel out, if you have a remaining even. However there is a special case if you end up with 1 even and 1 odd; If you have an odd amount of odds (3, 5, 7...) then it's not possible, But it is for 1.

As I read over that, it's a little difficult to understand, read it carefully.

So if we look at the original we see that we have 3 odds and 2 evens:
o oo ee . The paired ones cancel out so we have an o remaining. If you look back at my list, a remaining odd is...Not Possible, hence the puzzle is unsolvable.

Note: I haven't showed this mathematically, I made puzzle types a bunch of times and tried them, the ones that weren't possible and the ones that were possible had the same properties, that's what this is based upon. You can try it yourself.

 

[Gib Z]

Yea i was thinking that too, can the line trace a lot the sides abit, then it will be simple.

 

[Brainteasercool]

the rules
you can go over a line one time
you can't go along a line
you can start in the middle or outside
you can have a straight line or a curved line
you can't cut or go through corners

 

[cristo]

the rules
you can go over a line one time
you can't go along a line
you can start in the middle or outside
you can have a straight line or a curved line
you can't cut or go through corners

With those rules, the problem has been shown (many times in this thread) to be insoluble.

 

[bagelboy92]

this seems to be impossible because first of all there is an even number of lines to cross for one line to go through and second of all i have made a NOTEBOOK of individual papers that have front and back non repetitive attempts...i lie to you not this is impossible...i have lost time trying to figure this out on a state high school test that determines if i pass high school! (Breathing hard like a maniac while saying that) ... ... yes I am okay but i tell you with confidence for all who read this that it is impossible

 

[cristo]

this seems to be impossible because first of all there is an even number of lines to cross for one line to go through and second of all i have made a NOTEBOOK of individual papers that have front and back non repetitive attempts...i lie to you not this is impossible...i have lost time trying to figure this out on a state high school test that determines if i pass high school! (Breathing hard like a maniac while saying that) ... ... yes I am okay but i tell you with confidence for all who read this that it is impossible

Wow... you really haven't read the earlier posts in this thread have you?

 

[light_bulb]

fun, will insert another quarter :(

 

[light_bulb]

i think this one is right?

 

[cristo]

i think this one is right?

Nope... you missed a side. It is impossible!

 

[light_bulb]

i have a new one with all lines but it adds up to 17? maybe unsolvable

 

[tehno]

Nope... you missed a side. It is impossible!

I'd second that.

 

[Sting1974]

Why doesn't someone make a computer program to see if its solvable? might be easier and it could do calculations or attempts hundreds of times faster than us.

 

[d_leet]

Why doesn't someone make a computer program to see if its solvable? might be easier and it could do calculations or attempts hundreds of times faster than us.

Because that would be entirely pointless, for as it has been said numerous times in this thread it is simply not possible.

 

[MindCrack]

This thing is like crack cocaine! I don't know what its called so I just call it Mind Crack. I've been doing this puzzle for about 6 months now and haven't figured it out. It was shown to me by a neighbor who says he's seen the answer but had been done on a computer. Whether that's true or not I do not know. Seeing as he's an alcoholic but still. If anyone has the true answer. Quit hiding it and reveil it! Because I am sure there is otehr people out there that are craving to know the answer!

...Mind Crack

 

[cristo]

This thing is like crack cocaine! I don't know what its called so I just call it Mind Crack. I've been doing this puzzle for about 6 months now and haven't figured it out. It was shown to me by a neighbor who says he's seen the answer but had been done on a computer. Whether that's true or not I do not know. Seeing as he's an alcoholic but still. If anyone has the true answer. Quit hiding it and reveil it! Because I am sure there is otehr people out there that are craving to know the answer!

...Mind Crack

Why don't you read the n posts above telling you that this is impossible! There's a proof of this in one of the early replies.

 

[mhhottie111]

I've removed my posting of the solution so that anyone who wants to follow up on baffledMatt's excellent insight will have a chance to do so!

i want to see your solution...

 

[mhhottie111]

i want to see your soltution to this problem.i have been trying for 2 years and still can not seem to find any answer

 

[Hootenanny]

i want to see your soltution to this problem.i have been trying for 2 years and still can not seem to find any answer

As has been said many, many times before (and proven once), this problem has no solutions. Therefore, it serves no purpose to continue to seek solutions to this problem and hence any discussion on the topic is also useless.

Thread closed.