pile of bricks

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A uniform brick of length L is laid on a smooth horizontal surface. Other equal bricks are now piled on as shown, so that the sides form continuous planes, but the ends are offset at each brick by a distance L/a, where a is an integer. How many bricks n can be used in this manner before the pile topples over?

Answer


Solutions (listed by author)

Chris Siegert (pdf, 64K)

 

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