Quick insights and painted eggs

Extract

This article provides solutions to three problems. The solutions are interesting in themselves; but the problems, which are very different in nature, have a common characteristic. Each can be solved relatively quickly—some would say, elegantly—by a leap of intuition. On the other hand, all three can be tackled in a more exploratory, pedestrian fashion. Some people may want to argue that one approach is “better” than another; but a more useful discussion concerns the appropriateness of a method in particular circumstances, whether it provides insight into the underlying structure and principles involved, and indeed whether this is important.