Skysteel
jmd said:Tell you what, Skysteel - YOU decide on a picture (or world map - makes no difference to the point), and suggest the following experiment:step 1 - take two copies of the image, and have ready two boxes, named respectively A and B;That was the point I was trying to make earlier.
step 2 - cut one of those into 24 pieces and place in box A - decide on whatever method preferred, but for ease of experiment, I would suggest that each piece be more or less of apparent equal surface area;
step 3 - cut the other image into 78 pieces and place in box B - again, for the purposes of the experiment, each of those pieces be approximately equal to each other, but of course, and of necessity, smaller than the 24 pieces that have jigsawed the other image;
step 4 - from box A, join all pieces together until the original image is formed, and then in addition perform a imaginative exercise (or draw on an additional small piece of paper) as to what segment could be added to reclaim the original image (I would not suggest spending too much time on this, as it should be apparent that no additional part is needed);
step 5 - from box B, discard 56 jigsaw pieces, and see if the whole original image can be reconstructed. Repeat by discarding a different set of 56 pieces, and continue until satisfied that no twenty-two pieces from that set (even if they look prettier) can in fact re-construct the original picture
The point I was trying to make is that a different image is selected when the intention is to cut it into 78 pieces than when the intention is to cut it into 22 pieces, and I consider the 56 extra pieces unnecessary.