Editing Tangram (section)

===Origins===
Despite its relatively recent emergence in the West, there is a much older tradition of dissection amusements in China which likely played a role in its inspiration. In particular, the modular banquet tables of the [[Song dynasty]] bear an uncanny resemblance to the playing pieces of the tangram and there were books dedicated to arranging them together to form pleasing patterns.{{sfnp|Slocum|2003|p=16}}

Several Chinese sources broadly report a well-known Song dynasty polymath Huang Bosi 黄伯思 who developed a form of entertainment for his dinner guests based on creative arrangements of six small tables called 宴几 or 燕几(''feast tables'' or ''swallow tables'' respectively). One diagram shows these as oblong rectangles, and other reports suggest a seventh table was added later, perhaps by a later inventor.

According to Western sources, however, the tangram's historical Chinese inventor is unknown except through the pen name Yang-cho-chu-shih (Dim-witted (?) recluse, recluse = 处士). It is believed that the puzzle was originally introduced in a book titled ''Ch'i chi'iao t'u'', which was already reported as lost in 1815 by Shan-chiao in his book ''New Figures of the Tangram''. Nevertheless, it is generally believed that the puzzle was invented about 20 years earlier.{{sfnp|Slocum|2003|pp=16-19}}

The prominent third-century mathematician [[Liu Hui]] made use of construction proofs in his works and some bear a striking resemblance to the subsequently developed banquet tables which in turn seem to anticipate the tangram. While there is no reason to suspect that tangrams were used in the proof of the [[Pythagorean theorem]], as is sometimes reported, it is likely that this style of geometric reasoning went on to exert an influence on Chinese cultural life that lead directly to the puzzle.{{sfnp|Slocum|2003|p=15}}

The early years of attempting to date the Tangram were confused by the popular but fraudulently written history by famed puzzle maker [[Sam Loyd|Samuel Loyd]] in his 1908 ''The Eighth Book Of Tan''. This work contains many whimsical features that aroused both interest and suspicion amongst contemporary scholars who attempted to verify the account. By 1910 it was clear that it was a hoax. A letter dated from this year from the [[Oxford English Dictionary|Oxford Dictionary]] editor [[James Murray (lexicographer)|Sir James Murray]] on behalf of a number of Chinese scholars to the prominent puzzlist [[Henry Dudeney]] reads "The result has been to show that the man Tan, the god Tan, and the Book of Tan are entirely unknown to Chinese literature, history or tradition."{{sfnp|Slocum|2003|p=23}} Along with its many strange details ''The Eighth Book of Tan's'' date of creation for the puzzle of 4000 years in antiquity had to be regarded as entirely baseless and false.