math prob.:there are 9 squares and you have to reduce the number of squares to two be removing eight lines?

Question

There are 9 squares but if you look closely there are 14 you have to reduce the number of squares to 2 by removing eight lines.

Answer 1

Just remove the 8 lines connecting the large outer square to the small inner square.

I've attached a drawing to explain it better.

Another way is to leave a big outer square and a 2x2 inner square as shown in the second drawing.

Either solution removes 8 lines leaving 2 squares.

Answer 2

assuming this is 9 squares all connected (like on a checker/chess board) first remove 4 lines 2 from the top that point down into the (overall big square) then remove 2 from the right side that point in. You should now see 1 big square and one smaller square (smaller square has 4 smaller squares in it) in the smaller square remove the 4 inside lines that form a crosshair. You now have only 2 squares.

Answer 3

Draw a 3 x 3 cube, it will have 9 squares. Erase all the lines between the outside border and the center square. You will now have a large square containing a smaller square (the center of the original nine squares)

Answer 4

if the nine squares are a grid like this
_ _ _
I_I_I_I
I_I_I_I
I_I_I_I

then remove lines so you leave behind one of the inner 2x2 squares
_ _ _
I _ _I
I I I
I_I_ _I

sorry I can't get it to format

Answer 5

I'm assuming you have nine 1-by-1 squares made out of 24 sticks as follows

.--. --. --
|...|...|...|
.--. --. --
|...|...|...|
.--. --. --
|...|...|...|
.--. --. --

I had to put in the dots to make the spacing work right.

You can remove 8 sticks and leave a 2-by-2 square and a 3-by-3 square as follows.

.--. --. --
|.......|...|
|.......|...|
.--. --....
|...........|
.--. --. --

If you do this with match sticks, you can see it much better.