Hint for the peg and hole puzzle

Consider the following picture:


The tighter fit is the one for which the ratio of peg area to hole area is greater.

Back to puzzle


Is it!?

It is!





You could have just as easily said more surface area touching equals more friction which equals a tighter fit.
The illustration depicts this very clearly.

If we assume perfectly round and perfectly square elements, there are four points of contact in each case. Same tightness. The part of the peg that doesn't contact the hole is irrelevant.