Tech: A Russian aptitude test

The contents of this blog come mainly from my book Playwiths, which I self-published at the start of the Covid lockdown, to give young people some mind exercises. You can still find the whole thing online, but all the best parts are here for free, and I have added extra bits. The name Playwiths came from a poet:

The first man of science was he who looked into a thing, not to learn whether it furnished him with food, or shelter, or weapons, or tools, armaments or playwiths, but who sought to know it for the gratification of knowing…
         Samuel Taylor Coleridge, (1772 – 1834), Anima Poetae.

There is a joy in exploring ideas and puzzles which can all be solved, if you tackle them the right way. The second half of the book is mostly about puzzles and numbers, so it’s mostly logic, mathematics and computing.

When I was introduced to the next puzzle in 1980, it was described as “a Russian aptitude test for youngsters wanting to study architecture”.

Can you make this without any adhesives, from one piece of card?

The student was handed a piece of white cardboard, 13 cm by 8 cm, a pair of scissors, and the drawing above. The task was to make the same thing in three dimensions, without using glue or sticky tape. I solved the puzzle quickly, but only because I knew there had to be a solution. That is the key learning from this exercise.

When you work it out, make one from sheet metal.

That night, I took a sheet of copper, a pair of tin-snips, and a steel straight edge, and made the object you can see above, which has sat on my desk, ever since.

These views of a cardboard model give a very helpful hint!

Then see if you can read this code:

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