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Can you think in 3D?
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Science — Alex Bellos
Today’s puzzle concerns a fish swimming in a tank that is two metres high, one metre across and one metre deep.
The image below shows one path the fish swam.
This path shown from the front, the right side and the top looks like:
Today’s two puzzles present front and side views of fish paths. Can you draw the top view of the shortest path that produced these front and side views?
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the solutions.
If you find visualising shapes in three-dimensions difficult, ask an architect for help. I have set similar puzzles twice before, in 2015 and in 2017 , and on both occasions architects wrote in to say they are trained to think in this way.
PLEASE NO SPOILERS. Please discuss your favourite fish.
Today’s puzzles were created by maths educator George Watkins to celebrate the opening of the 1729 Maths School , which welcomes its first pupils later this month.
The school – in Mill Hill, north London – is the first specialist maths secondary school to open in the UK. Its name comes from a famous anecdote about a London taxi cab with the licence plate 1729 .
I’ve been setting a puzzle here on alternate Mondays since 2015. I’m always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me .
The image below shows one path the fish swam.
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Alex Bellos. Published 31 Aug 2026, 06:10 am.
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