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Puzzles

Sine

A sine curve can be created with five people by giving the following instructions to the five people:
A. Stand on the spot.
B. Walk around A in a circle, holding this string to keep you the same distance away.
C. Stay in line with B, staying on this line.
D. Walk in a straight line perpendicular to C's line.
E. Stay in line with C and D. E will trace the path of a sine curve as shown here:
What instructions could you give to five people to trace a cos(ine) curve?
What instructions could you give to five people to trace a tan(gent) curve?

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If you enjoyed this puzzle, check out Sunday Afternoon Maths XXVII,
puzzles about people maths, or a random puzzle.

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