[Guest]

Another one from the book, another horrible attempt at doing my own rendition of the book's picture. There are 9 matchsticks in the form of a cube. Suppose two of the matchsticks are removed. How could you rearrange the remaining seven matches so the still form the figure of a cube?

[bonanova]

shifting the point of view to the front so no side face is seen.

[Guest]

shifting the point of view to the front so no side face is seen.

A creative idea, but if you do that, there is no guarantee what you're looking at is a cube.

[Guest]

Another one from the book, another horrible attempt at doing my own rendition of the book's picture. There are 9 matchsticks in the form of a cube. Suppose two of the matchsticks are removed. How could you rearrange the remaining seven matches so the still form the figure of a cube?

view from front corner, straight on. I'll try to draw, but good luck on that! ...

.__.__.

|__|__|

Not drawn very well, but the middle is the corner/edge of the cube, with two faces showing (one to either side).

[Guest]

view from front corner, straight on. I'll try to draw, but good luck on that! ...

.__.__.

|__|__|

Not drawn very well, but the middle is the corner/edge of the cube, with two faces showing (one to either side).

I assume that's what Bonanova meant, and I gave similar explanation - it's a good idea, but pretend like you are able to see a 3rd side. That being the case, by doing it the way you did, you can only see TWO sides thus have an incomplete cube.

[Guest]

Maybe something like this?

[Guest]

Maybe something like this?

nice editing, but no - that would be a table flipped on it's side

[Nikyma]

/\ _

. . _!

. . _!

[Guest]

/\ _

. . _!

. . _!

Hmmmmmmm - I don't think so. What were you getting at on that one?

[Guest]

[Nikyma]

Hmmmmmmm - I don't think so. What were you getting at on that one?

^3

[Guest]

OOPS!!

I think the above is correct

Edited May 14, 2008 by karlhite

[Guest]

^3

YEAH DUDE, you are the winner. 15 internets have been deposited in your paypal account.

[Nikyma]

YEAH DUDE, you are the winner. 15 internets have been deposited in your paypal account.

Thanks, too bad it's not your puzzle....let's see what largeneal has to say about it.

[Guest]

Thanks, too bad it's not your puzzle....let's see what largeneal has to say about it.

I just meant you beat me to the punch.

[Guest]

some of you guys are on the right path. ^3 is a very good answer, I say virtually just as good as the actual answer. In fact, the actual answer is very close to this answer (hint hint). Nice work, Nikyma/karl/whoever else chimed in to get that one - a very creative answer

[Guest]

some of you guys are on the right path. ^3 is a very good answer, I say virtually just as good as the actual answer. In fact, the actual answer is very close to this answer (hint hint). Nice work, Nikyma/karl/whoever else chimed in to get that one - a very creative answer

2^3=8

8 is a perfect cube.

Edited May 15, 2008 by karlhite

[Guest]

shifting the point of view to the front so no side face is seen.

What I find funny about Karlhite's answer of "8" above (with 8 being the perfect cube of 2), is that it means that the very first answer posted was correct, although it was by accident.

Bonanova suggested that if you looked at the cube from the front, without seing the sides, you could do so with 7 sticks. Essentially seeing only the front face and the top face. The arrangement of sticks that represents this IS an 8!

[Guest]

What I find funny about Karlhite's answer of "8" above (with 8 being the perfect cube of 2), is that it means that the very first answer posted was correct, although it was by accident.

Bonanova suggested that if you looked at the cube from the front, without seing the sides, you could do so with 7 sticks. Essentially seeing only the front face and the top face. The arrangement of sticks that represents this IS an 8!

I thought the same thing.

Edited May 15, 2008 by karlhite

[Guest]

oops, double post.

Edited May 15, 2008 by karlhite

[Guest]

2^3=8

8 is a perfect cube.

If that's the answer, then I would like to submit an alternate solution.

here

[Guest]

If that's the answer, then I would like to submit an alternate solution.

here

Ah, you beat me as I was creating the image, but I have a third submission that also works

[Guest]

Break each match in half except one, (either into two separate pieces, or joined).

You can now create a cube with all twelve sides and have one match left over.

Brown circles indicate optional "joints".

I suppose if you wanted to get technical, you could break the last match into 12 segments and add a segment to each edge.

Edited May 15, 2008 by Jarod997

[Guest]

Another one from the book, another horrible attempt at doing my own rendition of the book's picture. There are 9 matchsticks in the form of a cube. Suppose two of the matchsticks are removed. How could you rearrange the remaining seven matches so the still form the figure of a cube?

Looks like--

[Guest]

Well done, everyone. A lot of creative answers here on a puzzle that required some very creative thinking! I'll put spoiler box with the original answer, as well as some of the other answers you all came up with (really good stuff!!)

original answer -->

organize the matchsticks in the form of an "8" - 8 is the cube of 2.

Other ones

^3 (exponential cube)

27 (cube of 3)

If I missed any others, sorry.

[Guest]

..../\.....------

.../...\..........|

.............-----

..................|

............------

well... i tried to draw someting inside a spoiler but i couldn't quite do it

sorry if the spacing is confusing... that stands for ^3