Pentominos
What do pentominos have to do with geometry?
Challenge Solutions
Hopefully you have been trying to solve the solutions to the different rectangles. As you probably noticed, all the the rectangles have areas of 60 square units since each of the  12 pentominos have an area of 5 square units each.

Each of the rectangular shapes is extremely difficult to solve, but many students have solved each of them. The site that is linked below can solve each of the puzzles if you need help. Before you use the site, take a look at some helpful hints that will make suing the site easier. Click on Pentominos Puzzle Solver site to get started.

Once the site is open:
  1. Click on the Launch Pentominos button.
  2. When the java applet opens, click on the Size drop down menu.
  3. Select the size of the rectangle: 10 by 6, 12 by 5, 15 by 4, or 20 by 3.
  4. Once the size is selected, the rectangular puzzle will appear. Click on the Control drop down menu and select Go.

    You will need to be patient; it takes some time on some of the configurations! If you want to find out more information about the applet, go back to the     Pentominos Puzzle Solver site and read the information below the Launch Pentominos button.