Henry Ernest Dudeney/Modern Puzzles/111 - The Victoria Cross

Modern Puzzles by Henry Ernest Dudeney: $111$

The Victoria Cross

We have shown elsewhere how innumerable puzzles may be devised on the Greek, St. George, or Red Cross, so familiar to all,

composed as it is of five equal squares assembled together.

Let us now do homage to the Maltese or Victoria Cross.

Cut the cross shown into seven pieces that will fit together and form a perfect square.

Of course, there must be no trickery or waste of material.

In order that the reader may have no doubt as to the exact proportions of the cross as given, I have inserted the dotted lines.

As the pieces $A$ and $B$ will fit together to form one of those little squares,

it is clear that the area of the cross is equal to seventeen such squares.

Sources

• 1926: Henry Ernest Dudeney: Modern Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): Geometrical Problems: Dissection Puzzles: $111$. -- The Victoria Cross
• 1968: Henry Ernest Dudeney: 536 Puzzles & Curious Problems ... (previous) ... (next): Geometrical Problems: Dissection Puzzles: $334$. The Victoria Cross