Naoki Inaba - The Big Puzzle Book of Area Mazes: 300 Mind-Bending Puzzles in Five Challenge Levels

What comes to mind when you hear the word training? Most likely a workout in which you use machines and barbells to strengthen your muscles. But today, more and more of us are brain trainingstimulating the brain so that its function will not decline. Its a daily step you can take for your healthjust like brushing your teeth. Everything you do uses your brain somehow, so you might think it is enough to just focus your mind on any task. However, some activities are better than others. El Camino is a science and math coaching school for students from first grade through high school.

To prepare our elementary school students for the Mathematical Olympiads, we give them puzzles that strengthen their logical and creative thinking. Saying lets solve a puzzle! appeals to the children much more than lets do a math problem. The students tackle the puzzles enthusiasticallyhaving fun, developing their abilities, and deepening their interest in mathematics all at once. We invented area mazes (menseki meiro) especially for our third-grade students. Area mazes can seem impossible to solve without using fractions and decimals. However, our third-grade students havent learned those techniques yet, so of course you can solve them using only whole numbers! The challenge is to work out how.

It takes more than calculation: It takes logic, spatial reasoning, and wits. Getting the answer without doing any complicated math is what makes area mazes fun!

Let me return to the original topic. When our students parents ask me how to train their own brains, I recommend the puzzles we use at El Camino. You might say, What? But those are for kids! Yes, that is trueand thats exactly my point. The young mind is a flexible blank slate, whereas the adult brain becomes inflexible. Thats why many puzzle books designed for adults fall short: The puzzles tend to follow a pattern.

Once your brain gets used to it, you will focus on spotting and applying the patternrather than thinking creatively. To use our metaphor of strength training, doing that kind of puzzle is something like rehab. Repeating an action over and over again will keep your brain active and maintain its function to some extent. However, it cannot rejuvenate your brain: It may put off aging, but it wont make you younger. Area mazes are different: They are designed to develop flexible thinkingyouthful thinking, if you will. They cannot be solved by repeating a process.

You often need a stroke of inspiration to solve them! As you work through these puzzles, you will feel your brain waking up. I hope you will enjoy area mazes. There is a delightful sense of achievement that comes with saying I got it! Ryoichi Murakami, director of El Camino

Using the given lengths and areas, find the value of ? . Remember, the formula for the area of a rectangle is height width. If your calculation creates a fraction or decimal, stop and look for another way. 45 5 = 9 in. 45 5 = 9 in.

Find length b ... This is the same as a , so 9 in. Find length c ... 72 9 = 8 in. Find length d ... Length ? is 32 d = 4 in. However, do not assume that every length or area in the puzzle must be a whole number.

Find length a ... 42 6 = 7 in. 42 6 = 7 in.

Find length b ... 13 = 6 in. Find length c ... 24 6 = 4 in. Find length d ... (4 + 7) 6 = 5 in.

Find length e ... 20 5 = 4 in. Find length f ... 28 7 = 4 in. Length ? is e + f = 8 in.

Some puzzles are 3D, but you can solve them using the same principles as the 2D puzzles. 30 6 = 5 in. 30 6 = 5 in.

Find length b ... 40 8 = 5 in. Find area c ... 5 5 = 25 in.2 Find area d ... 49 25 = 24 in.2 d equals the given area of 24, and they share a side. Area ? is b e = 25 in.2

The puzzles get more challenging as you go.
This key will guide you!
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5 Find the solution on . solution