Hi,

I saw Brent Braun create a very interesting puzzle that I am trying to better understand as I am very intrigued. I looked at Geometric Money by William Hooper from Rational Recreations Vol. III, however, the idea there goes over how to create 30 bills on 1 by 1 inch squares and by cutting the paper a specific way and rearranging it to 32. I tried applying the same principle to better understand the 3 by 3 puzzle of 9 notes rearranged to make 10. However, struggling to understand why it works. Recreating it isn't an issue, but understanding why it works is making me go nuts. Does anyone have resources that can chime in?

Hello G3LO,
If I understand your interests properly (I do not have access to the text you cite.), I would check out "Missing Square Puzzle" on Wikipedia. They do a good job explaining what I think you are interested in.
regards,
leonard

Hi Leonard, thanks! This is similar to the geometric money explanation in William Hoopers book. Here is the art piece I was referring to that I am trying to solve. I am trying to apply this based on the websites description to solve the puzzle of turning 9 bills into 10.

https://brickandmortarmagic.com/products......-swindle

Hellos G3LO. Is it not as simple as tearing each successive bill at roughly 10%, 20%, 30% etc. along its length, and then shifting the pieces? Each of the resulting 10 bills in now 90% of the original length. This fact can be seen by looking at any specific feature of the bills (i.e. corners, seals, signatures. George's eyes). You will never see more than 9 of any feature.
I hope this helps.
leonard