The Pythagorean Theorem - Educational Outreach

The Bride’s Chair and Kurrah’s subsequentdissection has long been the source for a little puzzle thathas found its way into American stores for at least fortyyears. I personally dub this puzzle ‘The Devil’s Teeth’,Figure 2.19. As one can see, it nothing more than theBride’s Chair cut into four pieces, two of which are identicalright triangles. The two remaining pieces are arbitrarily cutfrom the residual of the Bride’s Chair. Figure 2.19 depictstwo distinct versions of ‘The Devil’s Teeth’.Figure 2.19: ‘The Devil’s Teeth’The name ‘Devil’s Teeth’ is obvious: the puzzle is a devilishone to reassemble. If one adds a little mysticism about thesignificance of the number four, you probably got a winneron your hands. In closing, I can imagine Paul Harvey doing aradio spot focusing on Kurrah, the Bride’s Chair, and thethousand-year-old Transformers proof. After thecommercial break, he describes ‘The Devil’s Teeth’ and thesuccessful marketer who started this business out of agarage. “And that is the rest of the story. Good day.”Note: I personally remember this puzzle from the early 1960s.52