A man had three pieces of beautiful wood, measuring 12 inches, 15 inches, and 16 inches square respectively. He wanted to cut these into the fewest pieces possible that would fit together and form a small square table top 25 inches by 25 inches. How was he to do it? I have found several easy solutions in six pieces, very pretty, but have failed to do it in five pieces. Perhaps the latter is not possible. I know it will interest my readers to examine the question.
This puzzle was created by Henry Dudeney.