Can anyone explain this physics puzzle to me? like how is it possible?

Question

or is it just a trick?

http://www.policeabuse.info/thumb.gif

to me it seems like it shouldn't be possible

i can't wrap my brain around it ... are there block puzzles from education stores like this

i just don't understand how say a glass (triangle shaped glass) of liquid could be at one volume, one way, then another volume, a different time, (with the exact same amount of fluid) ... would shaped ice cubes make a difference?

Answer 1

The diagonal line in the top picture is not a straight line, it bows in the middle. That's enough of a difference to make up for the missing square.

.

Answer 2

The rise/run of the red triangle is:

3/8

The rise/run of the.. teal triangle:

2/5

These do not reduce to the same fraction, meaning they are not the same. Thus their sloped edges are not the same.

Despite appearances, there is an angle between the two triangles. So that isn't a straight line. The upper one "bows" in, and the lower one "bows" out. So the area below the edges isn't the same (by one unit, clearly).

They removed some horizontal lines in the bottom one to make this harder to see, but:

(a) Look at the top-left corner of the orange piece on the bottom arrangement. This is where the triangles meet, and that point is exactly on a + of the grid.

(b) Look at the top arrangement. The same point is slightly below that point, showing a bit of white.

So the figures have the same area, but they are more compactly arranged in the upper grouping.

Answer 3

The upper one is not a triangle because the hypotenuse is not straight.