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The Assassin Puzzle

Season 2 Episode 19 | 9m 12s

Imagine you have a square-shaped room, and inside there is an assassin and a target. And suppose that any shot that the assassin takes can ricochet off the walls of the room, just like a ball on a billiard table. Is it possible to position a finite number of security guards inside the square so that they block every possible shot from the assassin to the target?

Aired: 08/28/18
Extras
Can you stack four colored cubes so that each color only shows once on each side?
Set theory is the foundation of all of mathematics. How does it handle infinity?
When you think about math, what do you think of knots? Probably... knot.
In SET, what is the maximum number of cards you can deal that might not contain a SET?
What shape do you most associate with a standard analog clock? Circle or... torus?
Could you explain numbers to someone without using the notion of a number?
If Fermat had a little more room in his margin, what proof would he have written there?
Infinities come in different sizes. So what's the right way to describe the sum?
In the physical world, objects are made of simpler parts. What are numbers made of?
Here we break down Asymmetric crypto and more.
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Can you stack four colored cubes so that each color only shows once on each side?
Set theory is the foundation of all of mathematics. How does it handle infinity?
When you think about math, what do you think of knots? Probably... knot.
In SET, what is the maximum number of cards you can deal that might not contain a SET?
What shape do you most associate with a standard analog clock? Circle or... torus?
Could you explain numbers to someone without using the notion of a number?
If Fermat had a little more room in his margin, what proof would he have written there?
Infinities come in different sizes. So what's the right way to describe the sum?
In the physical world, objects are made of simpler parts. What are numbers made of?
Here we break down Asymmetric crypto and more.