A while back, Ben Bildstein wrote a very nice post about my konomark and copysquare projects. In Ben's post, he challenged readers with a puzzle concerning connecting nine dots with four connected lines.
I mentioned that I could solve Ben's dot puzzle with just three lines, instead of the four the challenge called for. I dropped the hint that to do so, you've got to think like a lawyer.
Ben recently gave up and asked for the solution.
So I will provide it here. But if you want to take a moment to think about it before I reveal it, here was Ben's challenge: "try to join these 9 dots with 4 straight lines, connected end-to-end; hint: start at a corner"
Okay.
Here is the engineer's answer. (Clever.)
Here is the lawyer's answer - with only three lines. (A little too clever.)
The thing is, Ben said "dots," instead of "points" that were "arranged in the pattern represented by the dots." Yeah, I know. As Ben pointed out, the puzzle is a nice illustration of "thinking outside the box." One might say that the lawyer's solution is "thinking outside of traditional notions of fair play." But hey, there's a lesson in there for future drafters of contract provisions and patent claims. I am a law professor after all.
Thanks again to Ben for his kind comments.
