May 2026
Problem of the Month

Mathematical Wordtris



Forty years ago, Tetris was a popular arcade game, followed by Wordtris and Super Tetris and other variations.   In Wordtris, players were to form words from falling tiles.

In this puzzle, you are to place the 17 tetris tiles below into the 7 x 10 grid in the usual interlocking style, so that ten 7-letter math words are formed reading left to right.   The 17 tiles will take up 68 of the 70 spaces, so the letters V and X have been placed for you.

I wasn't certain how difficult this would be so I have given you three of the ten words to help you get started:
HEXAGON
ELLIPSE
SEVENTY

When you send in your answer, you may just send a list of the ten words in order from top to bottom.





Click here for a printer version



Solution to the Problem:





Correctly solved by:

1. Diana Kennett Bastrop, Texas, USA
2. Colin (Yowie) Bowey Beechworth, Victoria, Australia
3. Ivy Joseph Pune, Maharashtra, India
4. Dr. Hari Kishan D.N. College,
Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India
5. Davit Banana Istanbul, Turkey
6. Dani-jo Ward Central High School,
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA
7. Raygan Ball Central High School,
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA
8. Courtney Spillman Central High School,
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA
9. Marely Lopez Serna Central High School,
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA
10. Autumn Chapman-Jaeger Central High School,
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA
11. Richard Thacker ----------
12. Eva Hull Central High School,
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA
13. Yatzil Fregoso Central High School,
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA
14. Justice Espinoza Central High School,
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA
15. Sawyer Pidcock Central High School,
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA
16. Shyann Page Central High School,
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA
17. Kelly Stubblefield Mobile, Alabama, USA


Send any comments or questions to: David Pleacher