326.--A NEW COUNTER PUZZLE.

From Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney.

Here is a new puzzle with moving counters, or coins, that at first glance looks as if it must be absurdly simple. But it will be found quite a little perplexity. I give it in this place for a reason that I will explain when we come to the next puzzle. Copy the simple diagram, enlarged, on a sheet of paper; then place two white counters on the points 1 and 2, and two red counters on 9 and 10, The puzzle is to make the red and white change places. You may move the counters one at a time in any order you like, along the lines from point to point, with the only restriction that a red and a white counter may never stand at once on the same straight line. Thus the first move can only be from 1 or 2 to 3, or from 9 or 10 to 7.

[Illustration:

4 8 / \ / \ 2 6 10 \ / \ / 3 7 / \ / \ 1 5 9

]

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326.--A NEW COUNTER PUZZLE.: Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney | amphi