# I can't figure out this puzzle

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-figure-out-this-puzzle/380641>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 16, 2006, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-figure-out-this-puzzle/380641 "2006-11-16T05:24:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-figure-out-this-puzzle/380641/21 "2006-11-16T21:31:23Z")

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Some advice for anyone attempting this experiment at home (and preferably only at home): A pair of underpants is topologically equivalent to a pair of pants, but practically speaking, it’ll be a lot easier to demonstrate with undies. Once you’ve seen it done with a pair of tighty whities, it should be easy to see how to generalize it to progressively longer shorts, up to the whole trousers.

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