Henry Ernest Dudeney/Modern Puzzles/109 - Squaring a Star

Modern Puzzles by Henry Ernest Dudeney: $109$

Squaring a Star

This six-pointed star can be cut into as few as five pieces that will fit together to form a perfect square.

To perform the feat in $7$ pieces is quite easy,

but to do it in $5$ is more difficult.

The dotted lines are there to show the true shape of the star, which is made of $12$ equilateral triangles.

Sources

• 1926: Henry Ernest Dudeney: Modern Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): Geometrical Problems: Dissection Puzzles: $109$. -- Squaring a Star
• 1968: Henry Ernest Dudeney: 536 Puzzles & Curious Problems ... (previous) ... (next): Geometrical Problems: Dissection Puzzles: $332$. Squaring a Star