This is a "greeting card" folder
To a child I shall give wings,

but I shall let him learn to fly on his own.

Page 2

Why can’t we fit the blocks in the box?



Because it takes a bit of science...

...and a bit of mathematics.



It’s really very simple...and we just might feel

just a bit silly when we realize just how simple...

it is!



Science is an art of not seeming silly...
To someone who sees something we’ve missed.
Mathematics is the science of seeing...
Those things we never suspected exist.

Page 3

There are thirteen bricks,1 X 2 X 4 units to a side.
There are three rods,1 X 1 X 3 units to a side.
There is one big square block, 2 X 2 X 2 units to a side.
There is one flat square block 1 X 2 X 2 units to a side.

The box is 5 X 5 X 5 units to a side.

Is the box big enough to hold those 18 blocks?

The box is 125 little cubes big.
The total volume of the 18 blocks is 125 little cubes.

It is big enough!

A little secret:

There are many ways to fit the blocks in the box.

But there’s a little rule you must follow.  It’s a mathematical rule.  A simple mathematical rule.  Ask yourself: how many little blocks does it take to fill the bottom layer of the box?

You know, of course, the answer is:  25

And the next layer takes the same number.  And the next…  And the next…  Turn the box on its side, and that layer also takes the same number.  And the next layer up.  And the next.  In fact there are fifteen different layers that each take that number of little cubes.

But how can you get an odd number of little cubes in a layer with those blocks when almost all of them will add an even number of little cubes to any layer?   The sum of even numbers is always an even number.
 

Page 4

Things are not always what they seem.

That’s why magicians can fool us.
Hucksters might gull us.
Tricksters might make us look silly.

so..

Be the magician!

Foil the huckster!
Learn some good tricks of our own!


Get skilled at some science.
Master some math.
And have a good time growing, growing, growing…

...grown.


Then keep going.


Where is the Platinum Plover Egg?
K E Y S   A N D   C L U E S   F O L D E R

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