This activity
is in the testing stage of development and may be used in our upcoming Science
Explorer book, "Mind Benders and Brain Games". We'd appreciate
your help in evaluating it. Try it out and let us know what you think by
email
. Thanks for your
help!
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What Do I Do? Beginning Mindbender: Stack the nickel, the penny, and the dime on the middle circle, with the nickel on the bottom and the dime on the top. Your goal is to stack these 3 coins on one of the other circles, in the same arrangement. But there are some rules you have to follow in moving the coins.
Can you move stack of the coins? How many moves does it take you? It's possible to move the stack in only seven moves. Can you do that? If you want the stack to end up in the circle on the right, what's your first move? If you get stuck, click here for some help. Barely Bent If you can move a stack of 3 coins in seven moves, here's a tougher challenge for you: Add the quarter to the bottom of your stack of 3, and put this stack in the middle circle, with the quarter on the bottom and the dime on the top. Following the same rules as before, can you move this stack of 4 coins to one of the other circles? If you want the stack to end up in the circle on the right, what's your first move? It's possible to move the stack in 15 moves. Can you do that?
If you get stuck, think about what you did when you only
had 3 coins. If you really get stuck,
click here
for some help.
Ready to move on? Here's an even tougher challenge. Add the half dollar or the 1-1/4" circle of cardboard to the bottom of your stack of 4 coins. Put this stack of 5 on the middle circle. Following the same rules as before, can you move this stack of 5 coins to one of the other circles? If you want the stack to end up in the circle on the right, what's your first move? It's possible to move the stack in 31 moves. Can you do that? If you get totally stuck, click here . Totally Bent If you've gotten this far, your mind is so twisted that you are practically a pretzel. Good for you! You're in the big leagues now. Add the silver dollar or the 1-1/2" circle of cardboard to the bottom of your stack of 5 coins. Put this stack of 6 coins on the middle circle. Following the same rules as before, can you move this stack of 6 coins to one of the other circles? If you want the stack to end up in the circle on the right, what's your first move? It's possible to move the stack in 63 moves--but at this point, who's counting? If you get totally stuck, click here .
What did the Science-At-Home team find? The Science-At-Home team sat at our desks in the Exploratorium and spent hours moving coins around and trying to figure out if there were any patterns in the way that the coins moved. Here are the patterns we found. First, we kept track of our moves and realized that when you are moving a stack, you keep repeating the same moves over and over. If you look at the moves you make in "Beginning Mindbender" and the moves you make in "Barely Bent," you'll see that the moves of "Beginning Mindbender" are the first moves in "Barely Bent." The same is true for "Barely Bent" and "Kind of Twisted." All the moves of the easier puzzle are always part of the harder one. We also kept track of where the stack ended up and we realized that where the stack ended up depended on what our first move was. Eventually, we figured out the following rules: If you have an odd number of coins to move, your first move should be to put the dime in the place where you want the stack to end up. If you have an even number of coins to move, put the dime in the place where you don't want the stack to end up.
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