More than one cut

[Genady]

You are given four pieces of chain shown on the left, and you want to make a circular chain shown on the right. What is a minimum number of links you need to cut to do the job?

[Ghideon]

On 5/18/2023 at 5:29 PM, Genady said:

You are given four pieces of chain shown on the left, and you want to make a circular chain shown on the right. What is a minimum number of links you need to cut to do the job?

Spoiler

3? Cut each link in one of the segments resulting in three open links an three segments. Use the three open links to join the three segments into a loop.

 

[Genady]

13 minutes ago, Ghideon said:

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3? Cut each link in one of the segments resulting in three open links an three segments. Use the three open links to join the three segments into a loop.

 

This is correct. +1

I don't know a way with fewer cuts.