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Can you solve the Trojan War riddle? - Dennis E. Shasha

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TEDEd Animation

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On Olympus, you’ve been waiting for an opportunity to bring the bloody Trojan War to its conclusion. The two sides have agreed to a brief truce, and when you consult the Fates, they advise: should the peace last for 10 days, all will end soon. But if the truce is broken, there will be 10 more devastating years of war. Can you help the Greeks and Trojans keep the peace? Dennis Shasha shows how.

Additional Resources for you to Explore


The mathematics of this puzzle is related to the field of combinatorial geometry. Here is a group of fun puzzle-type mathematical puzzles.
Partition has been explored on the geopolitical stage as a way of resolving conflict. It's an extremely complicated subject without simple answers, but if you want to learn more about some of these moments in history see:- http://faculty.washington.edu/brass/Partition.pdf- https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nationalities-papers/article/abs/impact-of-forced-topdown-nation-building-on-conflict-resolution-lessons-from-the-1923-compulsory-population-exchange-between-greece-and-turkey/B629C869F3C6C0730EC183E22B955C5E- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Geneva_Convention

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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Dennis E. Shasha
  • Director Igor Coric
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
  • Storyboard Artist Igor Coric
  • Animator Igor Coric
  • Compositor Igor Coric
  • Art Director Igor Coric
  • Music Cem Misirlioglu
  • Sound Designer Cem Misirlioglu
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
  • Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Production Coordinator Abdallah Ewis
  • Script Editor Alex Gendler
  • Fact-Checker Jennifer Nam

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