Figure this one out!

[Mark]

Do you recall your Chemistry class and/or Physics class where you learned about a law called the conservation of mass law? If not it basically means that matter can neither be created or destroyed. It's particles can only be rearranged. Why does this work then? Can you figure it out.

 

[Scott Stone]

Better get my son to figure this one out for me.

Scott

 

[Larry L.]

Hmmm I'm like Scott,my grandsons will be here in a min.,they are scratological on things like dat.

 

[Dan S]

come on Scott and big-boy thats sooooooooo easy .............Mark erased one of those blocks.............

the yellow one is bigger when turned in a different direction (one side anyways) (longer) ..... same width but longer ......... if you take out every block except the yellow and the one on the right and keep flipping it ....it will always have a whole untill it gets flipped back to the first position ..........

sounds good to me ..........whats the answer?

 

[Roger]

Mark,
The solution is obvious. The 2 shapes are not identical. The grid creates an optical illusion so that they appear to be the same shape, but if you put a straight edge along the long run of the top shape you will see it is not a straight line, it is concave. The long run of the botom shape is a straight line, so the area of the concave portion of the top shape is equal to the area of the missing hole in the bottom shape.