Cut 'n' Paste
Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.
This one is a "mental" exercise - don't use paper and scissors - just imagine in your mind:
Take a sheet of paper - any size that you happened to have (remember, just imagine this paper). Now fold this sheet of paper in half and now fold it in half again, at right angles to the first fold. Now you have four thicknesses of paper. Now imagine you use scissors and cut through all four thicknesses, right down the middle of the paper, parallel to the first fold you made. Now, imagine, how many pieces of paper do you have now? Don't get paper and scissors to solve this one - try to picture this in your mind!
Answer
You will have 3 pieces of paper after the cut. It won't matter which direction you make the cut with the scissors - you'll end up with 3 pieces of paper. Don't believe it? Now go get the paper and scissors and actually do this - you'll see!
Hide
Comments
airhead3 
Mar 01, 2004
| An enjoyable, quick mental exercise - thanks!  |
Bulletthrudahed 
Mar 02, 2004
| For some reason i ended up with 5  |
Bulletthrudahed
Mar 02, 2004
| i folded it 3 times. Duh!   |
bbngk
Mar 03, 2004
| When do we paste them?  |
jimbo 
Mar 04, 2004
| How cute. I was sure there would be only 2. Aren't we predictable? |
lucylizzy
Apr 23, 2004
| Yay, I got it! (maybe I should do more of this sort...)  |
accordionman
Jun 09, 2004
| I got a paper cut in my head, and was unable to complete the exercise. |
AXTON
Jul 05, 2004
| ONE OF MY FAVOURITE TEASERS, and i got it out. THANKS!!
|
hcut3
Jan 14, 2005
| i did not get it |
drussel3
Jun 02, 2005
| Thanks, real thought provoking. I am sitting here are my desk, folding my hands together continously simulating folding the paper. I must look pretty silly. |
Ozymandias
Jul 22, 2005
| Son of a gun! You're right! This is definitely one of my favorites! |
bookworm91
Nov 10, 2005
| wow. i thought "2, duh."  well.... i never said i was good at visualazations. good teaser tho. |
BrieCheese
Nov 27, 2005
| i still dont get it |
cat27514
Feb 26, 2006
| WOW!!!  That is sooo cool! |
Holli44654
Feb 09, 2008
| good one! |
psychoserenity
Feb 09, 2008
| Wooo! I found that quite easy but still really fun. More visualisation puzzles please! |
bradon182001
Feb 09, 2008
| I'm with bookworm and jimbo, I guessed 2. Will definitely have to try this one. Fun teaser. |
doehead 
Feb 09, 2008
| Very elementary.Sorry.  |
jabdr
Feb 09, 2008
| It's about me and my imagination... We arrived at 6 And we feel pretty inept |
smartymarty
Feb 09, 2008
| I liked this one. I thought it would be two, but when I made the first fold with a real piece of paper I realized it would be three. Thanks  |
angelawrence94
Feb 09, 2008
| O M G I LOVED THIS ONE!!!!!!!!! |
avonma
Feb 09, 2008
| I was like "drussel3" "folding" my hands and imagining cutting the paper. But, I couldn't "unfold" the paper in my mind to count the pieces... |
preppygirl
Feb 09, 2008
| grrr. i got it wrong. i was thinking 8. |
koolstarkid101 
Feb 09, 2008
| I found it quite easy though fun! I loved it! Please make more! |
mondayschild59
Feb 09, 2008
| I'm already "mental" and you give me a mental teaser. I'm like the other person with the paper cut on the brain. I could only come up with two pieces, until I used the real paper.
Monday~ |
sftball_rocks13
Feb 09, 2008
| Eek. I said none because I was supposed to be "imagining" the paper, so there wouldn't really be any. I just figured it was a trick teaser...woops |
willymapo
Feb 09, 2008
| Very easy, no paper was harm during the exercise
Mind can play tricks on us. In this one, people will actually fold it in their minds. After the cutting part, they either remember you mention 4 and will think of automatically 8 , or they will suspect a trick and will fold the paper again. This time, guessing they are smart enough, they will say: "it is just one piece of paper, so if you cut it in the middle you will get two pieces". Logical!!!
But if you think of it different, thinking on folds instead, it is easier: the paper has two folds.One fold will make 1 sheet into 2. Another fold will make 2 sheets into 4. If you cut half that, you are splitting only one fold, leaving the other. You end up with four sheets, two with one fold, another two with another fold and four with two. Unfolding releases 4 to 1, and 2 to 1. Three pieces.
Humm, I guess it is easier looking at it.... |
jec9009
Feb 09, 2008
| i only had 2 pieces..  |
jec9009
Feb 09, 2008
| i tried it again...i got 3 this time |
auntiesis
Feb 09, 2008
| I only got 2 in my head, but 3 in the real world. Very good teaser. |
2ndhandrose
Feb 09, 2008
| I got it and then checked with a piece of paper
That single piece with two folds took some thought.
I Liked This. Fun and Different
& a Degree of Challenge to It.
Thanks for Posting |
2ndhandrose
Feb 09, 2008
| By the By he said 4 Thicknesses
of Paper not 4 Pieces so you have to read closely & pay attention.
Not misleading at All. |
dogg6pound9
Feb 09, 2008
| fun and easy teaser... i got the answer on the first mental fold... if you fold the paper once and cut parallel to the fold you get 3, and by folding twice, you cut parallel to one of the folds regardless of which center you cut down |
SweetPotato
Feb 09, 2008
| Neat-O, thanks! I thought with one cut you couldn't end up with an odd number or more than 2 ... so I thought (confidently) the answer had to be 2 ... what's so hard about that? I was really surprised to find 3 pieces of papaer in my hand. I'm usually very good at this sort of thing. |
conniejmt
Feb 10, 2008
| Okay so I finally got it... The wording was a little confussing. The folding at the right angle thingy. I think you should of said simply fold it in half, and then fold it in half again. But still a wonderful teaser. Thanks. |
mosca
Feb 10, 2008
| A great, brain-twisting teaser! I have creases in my gray matter from this one! |
smartymarty
Feb 10, 2008
| Willymapo, what in the world are you talking about? |
tonjawithaj
Feb 13, 2008
| Actually, the answer is a little misleading...it says no matter which direction you cut the paper it will be three pieces. Only if all the cuts are parallel to the folds...if not, you can cut from one folded side to another, and end up with only two pieces of paper. |
Mytana
Feb 09, 2011
| Very cute. I think I may have done hand actions while thinking though |
dsjt
Feb 09, 2011
| I now have 503 sheets of paper. I was folding and cutting the last sheet of paper out of my printer. Before I finished my cut, my wife got home from Wal-Mart and handed me a 500 sheet pack of printer paper. |
ka-ching
Feb 09, 2011
| dsjt ^ |
lulumon
Feb 09, 2011
| boy do i feel dumb now! i thought i was good at visualization |
Singerbear
Feb 09, 2011
| I got the right answer to the original problem, but technically the added comment is wrong.
it is possible to make one cut and get four pieces. The cut is not parallel to an edge, but one cut through all 4 pieces is made.
To prove this, you cut from the point of pape that all of the folds meet across the paper at an angle.
Just being pedantic here. |
uetian
Mar 27, 2012
| OOOHHHH...!!! I thought its answer is,"you will have no piece of paper because it's just imagination"..... |
royale-ninja
Jul 28, 2012
| i got it right |
Back to Top
| |
|
