

Puzzle HN: Can you please help us mathematically solve a puzzle? - todayiamme

I encountered a very simple puzzle that has very interesting ramifications. The puzzle consists of a set of cubes grouped in 3s or 2s that are linked together in a staggered fashion with elastic. We are meant to collapse these cubes into a 3 by 3 larger cube.<p>Here are a few pictures: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;nxA4Y<p>Now we know the brute-force way to do it, but I&#x27;m wondering if there&#x27;s a mathematical solution to this problem that can predict the exact sequence of folds required. Is there some way for us to derive this?<p>---<p>There are 12 nodes in total and here are the pairings of these cubes:<p>(3,3,), (3,3), (3,2), (2,2), (2,3), (3,3), (3,2), (2,3), (3,3), (3,2), (2,2), (2,3)
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pixl8ed
[http://www.mathematische-
basteleien.de/snakecube.htm](http://www.mathematische-
basteleien.de/snakecube.htm)

[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11622068/snake-cube-
puzzl...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11622068/snake-cube-puzzle-
correctness)

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tanish2khn
brilliant!

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Constantskeptik
Nice. I don't know why I thought the two were related...

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ColinWright
Clickable: [http://imgur.com/a/nxA4Y](http://imgur.com/a/nxA4Y)

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Constantskeptik
This is a quick wiki search "The puzzle was created by Franz Owen Armbruster,
also known as Frank Armbruster and published by Parker Brothers in 1967. Over
12 million puzzles were sold. The puzzle is isomorphic to numerous older
puzzles, among them the Katzenjammer puzzle,[3][4] patented[5] by Frederick A.
Schossow in 1900, and The Great Tantalizer (circa 1940, and the most popular
name prior to Instant Insanity). The puzzles use a subset of the 30 cubes
devised by Percy Alexander MacMahon, but it is not known if the puzzle
creators knew of MacMahon's cubes."

I have a puzzle that does indeed have 12 different possible shapes and fits
together in a rectangle. You have connected the ends together as if it will be
folded like oragami. Why?

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317070
The green blocks have 14 possible locations. If you start at both the left and
right end and look how those structures can fit, it simplifies the problem
significantly.

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Constantskeptik
This is very similar to a math puzzle I have. there are 12 solutions, but it
appears you have them linked in a chain. This is a famous problem.

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Constantskeptik
[http://i.imgur.com/Uf86hRz.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/Uf86hRz.jpg)

