Can you draw an x in a box without picking up your pencil or overlapping?

Answer 1

Common Wisdom:

No, you cannot. This is because of a theorem by Leonhard Euler in the field of Graph Theory. I will state this in Graph Theory terms: you cannot find an Eulerian circuit in a graph where more than two vertices have an odd degree. The "y" shape creates three vertices that have an odd degree, thus this is impossible. Please see the link about the Euler path for details.

An alternative view of the question (and answer):

You are thinking inside the box. You are being trapped by constraints which you are assuming, but are not stated in the problem. Of course you can draw a "Y" without picking up the pen or overlapping the lines. Simply draw a "block" letter Y. See the "Y in a rectangle" page for an example. (And, I fail to see how a rectangle makes this problem more difficult.)

Note the elements that make the second answer feasible:

# Interpreting "draw a y" as a "block letter y".

# Interpreting the words "in a rectangle" as meaning that you do not have to draw the rectangle.

I think this is counter-intuitive, but intuition is a subjective thing. Both answers are valuable.

Answer 2

Yes, it is possible, but you will need to back up to draw back over the next to last line in order to finish it up.

- Harold Sink

yes, you can if you just draw over what you did .write z then draw a line to the side of the z then make a line on the right

The lighter side..Use a pen or vivid marker instead of a pencil.

Answer 3

mayb like this

drw a str8 lyn on d bottom edge of the box,frm d end point, drw a diagonal, then frm the end of d diagonal, drw another str8 lyn parallel to the edge od the box, n then draw another diagonal tht meets the end of the fist str8 lyn drawn....... thts all i cud think of, i ain't sure if drawin str8 lynz iz aloowed

And for those who can't read retard.

Maybe like this,

draw a straight line on the bottom edge of the box, from the end point, draw a diagonal, then from the end of the diagonal, draw another straight line parallel to the edge of the box, then draw another diagonal that meets the end of the first straight line drawn... That's all I could think of, I am not sure if drawing straight lines are aloud.

I don't know if this is right but I would rather people can actually read what someone wrote.

▲

▲▲

Answer 4

No it is not possible. In order to draw a something you need some sort of writing utensil. So in order to make an x in a box you would have to pick up a pencil and draw it.