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Old 01-08-2017, 11:55 AM
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Yale Yale is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Dipinajata, Texas
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FWIW, Bonzo, squaring the circle was one of the three classical problems of ancient math, often known as quadrature. The others were trisecting an angle (trisection), and doubling the volume of a given cube (duplation). As you mention, late in the 19th century it was proven that all three problems are not solvable with classical tools -- an unruled straightedge and a "collapsing" compass. (That is, you could use the compass only to make arcs and circles, not for transferring a line length to another place.)
So don't worry -- even after your clever puzzle/toy, you needn't run out of challenges.
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