Hello guzzlers.
The image below is the horizontal cross section of a room. The bulb shows the position of the single light source.
When the light is switched on, one wall (marked in brown) remains completely in shadow.
Today’s puzzle is as follows: Design a room with straight walls in which there is a position for a single light source that leaves either part or all of every wall in shadow.
Clarification: A point is in shadow if there is no direct line from the light source to it.
Extra clarification: The straight wall sections need to join, so the cross-section of the room is a polygon. You can’t have a free-standing wall.
If you email me your answers or tweet them to @alexbellos, I’ll put the best ones in the solution post that I’ll launch at 5pm GMT today
I post a puzzle here on a Monday every two weeks.
My most recent book is the mathematical adult colouring book Snowflake Seashell Star. (In the US its title is Patterns of the Universe.)
You can check me out on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and my personal website.
And if know of any great puzzles that you would like me to set here, get in touch.
