Is there any way to calculate how many border-pieces a puzzle has, without knowing its width-height ratio? I guess it's not even possible, but I am trying to be sure about it.
Thanks for your help!
BTW you might want to know that the puzzle has 3000 pieces.
Best Answer
Obviously, $w\cdot h=3000$, and there are $2w+h-2+h-2=2w+2h-4$ border pieces. Since $3000=2^3\cdot 3\cdot 5^3$, possibilities are \begin{eqnarray}(w,h)&\in&\{(1,3000),(2,1500),(3,1000),(4,750),(5,600),(6,500),\\&&\hphantom{\{}(8,375),(10,300),(12,250),(15,200),(20,150),(24,125)\\ &&\hphantom{\{}(25,120),(30,100),(40,75),(50,60),(h,w)\},\end{eqnarray}
Considering this, your puzzle is probably $50\cdot60$ (I've never seen a puzzle with $h/w$ or $w/h$ ratio more than $1/2$), so there are $216$ border pieces. This is only $\frac{216\cdot100\%}{3000}=7.2\%$ of the puzzle pieces, which fits standards.