What's the History of Tangrams?

tangram possibly originated yanjitu furniture set during song dynasty. there variation such furniture set during ming dynasty, , later became set of wooden blocks playing.

according other authors, earliest known reference tangram appears in chinese book dated 1813, written during reign of jiaqing emperor.

while tangram said ancient, existence in western world has been verified no earlier 1800. tangrams brought america chinese , american ships during first part of nineteenth century. earliest example known made of ivory in silk box , given son of american ship owner in 1802.

word "tangram" built tang + gram. word "tangram" first used thomas hill, later president of harvard, in book geometrical puzzle youth in 1848.

author , mathematician lewis carroll reputedly great enthusiast of tangrams , possessed chinese book tissue-thin leaves containing 323 tangram designs. napoleon said have owned tangram set , chinese problem , solution books while imprisoned on island of st. helena although has been contested ronald c. read. photos shown in "the tangram book" jerry slocum.

in 1903, sam loyd wrote spoof of tangram history, eighth book of tan convincing many people game invented 4,000 years ago god named tan. book included 700 patterns of not possible.

traditional tangrams made stone, bone, clay or other easy materials. nowadays can made plastic, wood or other modern materials.

what's history of tangrams?

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