The origin of jigsaw puzzles

Tangram was invented by working people in ancient China, and its history can be traced back to at least the first century BC, and it was basically finalized in the Ming Dynasty. Ming and Qing dynasties were widely circulated among the people. In the first volume of Cold Records Miscellaneous Knowledge, Yi wrote: "Recently, there are seven ingenious maps with five shapes and seven numbers, with as many as 1,000 variations. The body is small and changeable, and the tools of the game are enough to dispel boredom and break the silence, so secular people like it. "

/kloc-in the 0/8th century, the jigsaw puzzle spread abroad. Needham said that it is "one of the oldest pastimes in the East", and the library of Cambridge University in England still has a collection of "seven ingenious pieces".

American writer Edgar Allan Porter refined a puzzle with ivory. French Napoleon also used jigsaw puzzles as a pastime in exile. Who would have thought that Tangram would have something to do with Napoléon Bonaparte, Adam, Du Lei, Poe and Carol? In fact, they are all fans of jigsaw puzzle.

/kloc-in the 0/8th century, the jigsaw puzzle spread abroad, which immediately aroused great interest. Some foreigners played all night and called it "Tangtu", which means "Puzzle from China".

Extended data:

Tangram is a kind of tangram, which uses seven tangrams to spell out ever-changing image patterns in various ways.

As shown in the picture, dividing a square board into seven pieces becomes a puzzle. These seven boards can be spliced into geometric figures, such as triangles, parallelograms and irregular polygons. It can also be spelled into various specific characters or animals, such as cats, dogs, pigs, horses, etc. Or bridges, houses, pagodas, or some Chinese and English symbols and numbers.

Solve or prove mathematical problems with jigsaw puzzles. Tangram can be put together in different ways to form various geometric figures and images, such as bridges, boats, houses, pistols or people running, falling, playing, dancing and standing, as well as fish, cats and dogs.

The operation of jigsaw puzzle is a divergent thinking activity, which is conducive to cultivating people's observation, attention, imagination and creativity. Therefore, it not only has entertainment value, but also has certain educational value, and has been applied to teaching. Tangram has attracted the interest of researchers in philosophy, psychology, aesthetics and other fields because it can be combined repeatedly and continuously, and is also used as an auxiliary means to make commercial advertisements and seals.

Baidu encyclopedia-jigsaw puzzle