Subscribe now

The holly and the ivy and the…

This year I have designed my own Christmas card. It consists of 16 squares pasted onto a card in a closely packed 4-by-4 array. There are four pictures of holly, four of ivy, four of mistletoe and four of fir trees. There are four background colours of gold, silver, red or white, and every combination of plant and background colour (such as holly on a red background) can be found.

In each row and in each column of the array there is one square of each plant and one square of each background…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, subscribe today with our introductory offers

Popular articles

Trending New Scientist articles

Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop