How does this thing work?

Easy when the chart is designed by your state government.
Thats the budgetary hole that Gov Locke uses to justify increased user fees in the state park system.
G

The hypotenuse is curved ...

Another WSC conspiracy... huh Todd? Confuse us with brainteasers, then take over the world!

curved like he said.
in the first picture look at the upper right red square. go down to the corresponding square (location wise) on the lower chart and you can see the difference in gap (less white).

a1 aint no equal to a2 for you math people.

The overall area (5)(13)/2 = 32.5
Yet the sum of the individual components totals 32.

There is a half square too much depicted in the upper graph, and a half square too little depicted in the lower graph.

End result....one full square off.

Todd -
A good one!

a head sratcher for sure but it does look to be an increasing trend!

Tight lines
S malma

You guys rock, that took me a long time to figure out...it's kind of obvious once you see it, though.

Free foil hats for the winners!

The only catch is that you have to figure out the location of the next meeting of SMACKDOWN.

(Secret Meeting of Anadromous Creationary anti-Kill, Department Of Willfull Nefarians)

Todd