From Jerry: My name is Jerry and I am a math teacher at the secondary school level in the greater Toronto area. I posed the following problem to my enriched grade 10 math class that I found in the book called "Mathematics and the Imagination" by William Kastner. According to the author, it is posible for two people linked to each other with two ropes around their hands, to separate themselves without letting go of the rope. The students had lots of fun trying to accomplish this problem using skipping ropes from the Phys Ed department, but with no success. Answered by Penny Nom.