Strange Squares
by Kevin J. Lin
The mysterious extra square sneaks into the picture by hiding in a very clever
place: in the thickness of the lines used to draw out the shapes. If the lines were
drawn very thin, like they are in the image below, you can see that the shapes don't
line up perfectly.
Note the slope of the line dividing the rectangle in two. It's 5/13, or .3486.
Now measure the slope of the hypotenuse of triangle 3, it's 3/8 or .375 exactly. Since
they don't match, the upper portion of the rectangle must not be lining up perfectly
with the lower portion. You can see this more clearly below: