cube problem

Banashree Patra
Member • Apr 22, 2012

cube problem

Imagine a cubic array made up of an n*n*n arrangement of unit cubes: the cubic array is n cubes wide, n cubes high and n cubes deep. A special case is a 3*3*3 Rubik’s cube, which you may be familiar with. How many unit cubes are there on the surface of the n * n * n cubic array?

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~on*kiyu

Member • Apr 22, 2012

zero

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Banashree Patra

Member • Apr 23, 2012

~on*kiyu
zero
please explain

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Ramani Aswath

Member • Apr 23, 2012

Banashree Patra
Imagine a cubic array made up of an n*n*n arrangement of unit cubes: the cubic array is n cubes wide, n cubes high and n cubes deep. A special case is a 3*3*3 Rubik’s cube, which you may be familiar with. How many unit cubes are there on the surface of the n * n * n cubic array?
6*n^2 - 12*n + 8 for n > 1

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silverscorpion

Member • Apr 23, 2012

6n[sup]2[/sup] - 12n + 8

I think it can also be expressed as, n[sup]3[/sup] - (n-2)[sup]3[/sup]

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Ramani Aswath

Member • Apr 23, 2012

silverscorpion
6n[sup]2[/sup] - 12n + 8

I think it can also be expressed as, n[sup]3[/sup] - (n-2)[sup]3[/sup]
The second is more elegant. It represents the actual situation. What we are considering is the outer cube minus the (n-2) cube within it. n^3 is the total number of unit cubes, (n-2)^3 is the number of unit cubes in the contained cube. Aesthetically the second solution is more satisfying.

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