Henry Ernest Dudeney/Modern Puzzles/130 - Mr. Grindle's Garden/Solution
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Modern Puzzles by Henry Ernest Dudeney: $130$
- Mr. Grindle's Garden
- "My neighbour," said Mr. Grindle, "generously offered me, for a garden,
- "And what was the largest area you were able to enclose?" asked his friend.
- Perhaps the reader can discover Mr. Grindle's correct answer.
Solution
Just under $71$ square rods.
Proof 1
Let $\AA$ square rods be the area of the garden.
We are given that $\AA$ is the greatest possible for the given sides.
We also have that the sides of the garden are in arithmetic sequence.
Thus:
\(\ds \AA\) | \(=\) | \(\ds \sqrt {7 \times 8 \times 9 \times 10}\) | Greatest Area of Quadrilateral with Sides in Arithmetic Sequence | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds \sqrt {5040}\) | ||||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(\approx\) | \(\ds 70.99\) |
$\blacksquare$
Proof 2
Let $\AA$ square rods be the area of the garden.
We are given that $\AA$ is the greatest possible for the given sides.
From Area of Quadrilateral with Given Sides is Greatest when Quadrilateral is Cyclic, the quadrilateral formed by the sides of the garden is cyclic.
Hence we can apply Brahmagupta's Formula:
- $\AA = \sqrt {\paren {s - a} \paren {s - b} \paren {s - c} \paren {s - d} }$
where $s$ is the semiperimeter:
- $s = \dfrac {a + b + c + d} 2$
Thus:
\(\ds s\) | \(=\) | \(\ds \dfrac {7 + 8 + 9 + 10} 2\) | ||||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds 17\) |
and so:
\(\ds \AA\) | \(=\) | \(\ds \sqrt {\paren {17 - 7} \paren {17 - 8} \paren {17 - 9} \paren {17 - 10} }\) | ||||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds \sqrt {10 \times 9 \times 8 \times 7}\) | ||||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds \sqrt {5040}\) | ||||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(\approx\) | \(\ds 70.99\) |
$\blacksquare$
Also see
- $202$ - A Garden Puzzle in Dudeney's posthumous Puzzles and Curious Problems collection of $1932$, which is similar to this.
Sources
- 1926: Henry Ernest Dudeney: Modern Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): Solutions: $130$. -- Mr. Grindle's Garden
- 1968: Henry Ernest Dudeney: 536 Puzzles & Curious Problems ... (previous) ... (next): Answers: $260$. Mr. Grindle's Garden