Rules and solutions

Pentaminos

Since the beginning of the 20th century, these shapes covering five adjacent squares on a chessboard have been known. Henry Ernest Dudeney filed a patent in 1907, however it was not until 1954 that Salomon W. Golomb, author and professor of mathematics at the University of Southern California, introduced it to the world of geometric puzzles. Many pentomino problems would feed the mathematics column of Scientific American in the late 1950s.

1. Aim of the game

Using the 12 Pentominoes, create shapes that are as complex as they are varied.

2. The classics

6 x 10 Here all the pieces touch the perimeter

3. The Giants

Choose a pentomino and reproduce its shape with only 9 pieces without using the element taken as a model.

4. The Invisibles

In this 13 x 5 puzzle, we are given the instruction to leave in the center the shape of any pentomino.

5. The staircase

To build this 55-square staircase, you have to eliminate a pentomino. But in any case, do not remove pieces P and W. The construction is possible with the successive absence of all the other elements. There are many solutions. There are 224, for example, without the presence of X.