Problem of the Week 1006

A Matchstick Puzzle

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It is easy to use 12 matches to make a polygon of area 5:

Can you use 12 matches to make a polygon of area 4? To make it more interesting, each vertex of the polygon must be at a point with integer coordinates (where the matches have unit length).

Note: It must be a true polygon, with no crossings.

© Copyright 2004 Stan Wagon. Reproduced with permission.