Brain Teasers

Enrico Fermi

During the development of the atomic bomb at the Trinity test, Enrico Fermi dropped pieces of paper from his hand during the atomic blast. By observing the distance the paper traveled, he estimated that the bomb was roughly equivalent to 10 kilotons of TNT. This estimate was later verified to be within an order of magnitude of the actual yield of 21 kilotons. This process, now named Fermi estimations, is used today to estimate measurements that are difficult to calculate. The premise of the method is that overestimates and underestimates generally cancel each other out across orders of magnitude during calculations. The challenging part of making Fermi estimations is devising a path of calculations that minimizes uncertainty and variance.

In Science Olympiad, Fermi Questions ask for estimates given in powers of ten. For example, an estimated answer of 300 km is put into scientific notation as 3⋅10², and the exponent on the ten is used as the answer, yielding 2. If the estimate was 600 km, or 6⋅10², then the answer would be 3, rounding up.

Fermi Question Examples

Tetris Puzzles

Tetris has evolved significantly from its origins as a single-player, high-score-focused game, where the main strategy was executing quad line clears. Nowadays, it has shifted towards a competitive player vs. player format, introducing a variety of strategic plays for attacking and defending. Among these strategies, the "full clear" or "perfect clear"—eliminating all pieces from the board in one move—stands out as a major offensive tactic. Achieving a full clear requires considerable puzzle-solving skills and foresight, representing one of the most powerful attacks against an opponent. However, this strategy can be challenging to execute, especially with complex solutions. The video above is an example of a 10 perfect clears in a row.

Try one yourself! The goal is to full clear from the given board state. You can hold up to 1 piece at a time. For more information on the controls, click the settings button.

Hint: you may need to "spin" pieces into place

Chess Puzzles

Chess has exploded in popularity since Netflix show the Queen's Gambit, the Hans Niemann drama, the rise of online chess and rise of chess streamers. With all these new players starting out on chess, one of the best ways to learn chess independently is to play chess puzzles. A chess puzzle isn't nessesarily about checkmating, but rather involves finding a series of forced or calculated moves - a "tactic" that guarantees an advantage. Try out this moderately challenging puzzle! Theme: Backrank mate

Black to move

Logic Puzzles