Easter puzzle: the Chinese Egg

By Christopher Monckton of Brenchley

Since this is the time of year for Easter eggs, here is a Chinese puzzle. The object is to break the egg into nine pieces, as shown, and rearrange them into the shape of a bird. Hundreds of distinct birds can be made by arranging the nine pieces in different ways.

clip_image002

So here is a competition. Whoever produces the best selection of birds and sends the drawings to info@lordmoncktonfoundation.com will win the right to nominate a charity to which I shall send $100.

Happy Easter to one and all!

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March 31, 2013 8:27 am

Happy Easter to everybody from France and thanks for the tangram egg 🙂

March 31, 2013 8:51 am

Are computer models allowed?

3x2
March 31, 2013 8:55 am

will win the right to nominate a charity to which I shall send $100.
As we shivering Scots lairds say as we carry glasses well filled with single malt whisky to our aged retainers as they gallantly shovel feet of unseasonal snow off our three-mile driveways
While I did appreciate the Whiskey, how about you pay me and the lads the bonus you promised us for clearing the 15 foot of snow from the driveway first. Charity begins at home. So they say.

Vince Causey
March 31, 2013 9:06 am

Nice idea, but what if they nominate Greenpeace? I hope you enjoy irony.

March 31, 2013 9:08 am

Clearly no takers because nobody believes in Easter eggs anymore.
A blessed Easter you all.

March 31, 2013 9:41 am

I’ll be darned!!! No matter how I arrange them, it comes out a hockey stick!

John R. Walker
March 31, 2013 9:59 am

Which came first – the birds or the egg?

dp
March 31, 2013 10:14 am

These are automatically disqualified, but here is a fuller description of the puzzle. It is a really interesting puzzle with many more combinations than one might have thought.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Ancient-Chinese-Egg-Tangram/
For my penance I’ve sent $100 USD to my favorite charity.

March 31, 2013 10:15 am

Gary Pearse says:
March 31, 2013 at 8:51 am
Are computer models allowed?

Yes, but if it is anything like a GCM, you will likely get a host of other objects, none resembling a bird.

Ian E
March 31, 2013 10:18 am

Birds are three-dimensional, so the puzzle Sorry, Milord.

David Jones
March 31, 2013 10:20 am

Vince Causey says:
March 31, 2013 at 9:06 am
“Nice idea, but what if they nominate Greenpeace? I hope you enjoy irony”
Greenpeace, a charity? Surely not!!
I thought political organisations were not allowed charitable status!

3x2
March 31, 2013 10:28 am

Vince Causey
Nice idea, but what if they nominate Greenpeace? I hope you enjoy irony.
That would require a Greenpeace supplicant, operating without a photo and no ‘phone a friend’, to work out which bit of the duck would carry the eyes and the beak.
Greenpeace Duck. The only animal with the ability to fly up its own a**e

March 31, 2013 10:34 am

Easter greetings from Dublin, where we spent the day on St. James Gate and Trinity College. Home tomorrow!

March 31, 2013 10:39 am

Without moving the pieces around, if you tilt the egg on its side, it looks like Michael Mann’s face. No seriously, it does.

davidmhoffer
March 31, 2013 10:55 am

HenryP says:
March 31, 2013 at 9:08 am
Clearly no takers because nobody believes in Easter eggs anymore.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I believe in Easter eggs.
I believe they are made of chocolate.

March 31, 2013 11:17 am

It looks like one cut line on the egg was left off, the one which bisects the equilateral triangle.
As far as the mystery of which came first, the chicken or the egg …. it was the chicken.
Using the process of elimination, since eggs can’t come, it had to be the chicken,

Goode 'nuff
March 31, 2013 11:21 am

Yeah, Mario, I’ve been trying and trying to draw this big bird I saw deep in the Ozark National Forest. Cannot find it in any bird books. So deep in the Ozark Mountains where you’re watching constantly for things with claws and/or fangs to avoid. Evil looking bird with jet black eyes.
The bird is bald on top like the Bald Eagle, but around it’s beak it has feathers shaped like a mustache and goatee. Cannot split up the egg to get the face right, guess I’m disqualified.
I named the species Megalomanniac because of displays of omnipotence in the wild.

ralfellis
March 31, 2013 11:24 am

Ahh, the Easter Egg.
An ancient tradition originally derived from the goddess Isis, whose celebration date was at Easter, and whose name was spelt with the Easter Egg glyph (she was a fertility goddess, so the egg was an obvious choice for spelling her name).
http://www.crystalspirits.biz/deities/eqyptian/images/isis-name-glyphs.gif
Indeed, ‘Isis’ is only a Greek translation, and her name in the Egyptian was actually Est, from which we derive Ester, or Easter.
.

March 31, 2013 11:43 am

Even without any rearranging that is far more festive than being greeted by a beatific looking Cesar Chavez early this morning.

March 31, 2013 11:50 am
March 31, 2013 11:59 am

Caleb is with a doubt the winner!
Alfred

ShrNfr
March 31, 2013 12:36 pm

You can always trust the good Lord Monckton to egg people on.

P@ Dolan
March 31, 2013 12:48 pm

Vince Causey
Nice idea, but what if they nominate Greenpeace? I hope you enjoy irony.
That would require a Greenpeace supplicant, operating without a photo and no ‘phone a friend’, to work out which bit of the duck would carry the eyes and the beak.
Greenpeace Duck. The only animal with the ability to fly up its own a**e
Gah! Almost spewed up my dram of Lagavulin! Good onya, Mate! Best post I’ve seen in months!

wws
March 31, 2013 1:53 pm

re: Isis, Esther, Easter – and the Babylonian version of the name was Ishtar. This is probably the direct source of the Jewish Esther, during the Captivity – her Uncle’s name, Mordechai, which is still a well known Jewish name, is derived from Marduk-Hai, a salute to the chief god of the Babylonian pantheon.
yeah, this is a digression, but with Google saying the only significant thing about today is that it’s Cesar Chavez’s birthday, somebody should talk about Easter.

March 31, 2013 1:59 pm

I clicked the image and was ready to begin moving shapes around. The image wouldn’t cooperate. Then I looked at it more closely.
What is the square route of 2? I doubt my monitor could display it. I know I wouldn’t know what to do with it if it could. I believe the term to describe such a number is “irrational”.
Perhaps the “egg” can be formed into a Hockey Stick? The Hockey Stick is not a bird. Perhaps this puzzle is giving it one?
Remember the Resurrection and what led to it and be thankful.