36 cube
Encyclopedia
The 36 Cube is a three-dimensional sudoku
puzzle created by ThinkFun
. The puzzle consists of a gray base that resembles a city skyline, plus 36 colored towers. The towers come in six different colors and six different heights. The goal of the puzzle is to place all the towers onto the base so as to form a level cube with each of the six colors appearing once, and only once, in each row and column. The 36 cube was invented by Dr. Derrick Niederman
, a PhD. at MIT. He came up with the idea while writing a book on whole numbers, after unearthing an 18th century mathematical hypothesis. This supposition, the 36 officer problem, requires placing six regiments of six differently-ranked officers in a 6-x-6 square without having any rank or regiment in the same column. Such an arrangement would form a Graeco-Latin square
. Euler conjectured there was no solution to this problem. Although Euler was correct, his conjecture was not settled until Gaston Tarry
came up with an exhaustive proof in 1901. However, ThinkFun's 36 cube puzzle does have a number of solutions, which nevertheless demonstrate the validity of Euler's hypothesis.
Euler's 36 officer problem is a mental challenge, which can be attempted either in one's head or on paper, whereas the 36 cube is a mechanical puzzle that must be played on a manufactured grid. Therefore, it requires some abstract thinking, and a certain amount of special insight. For example, there is a trick where two of the pieces fit in a spot that a player might not expect them to.
Sudoku
is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 sub-grids that compose the grid contains all of the digits from 1 to 9...
puzzle created by ThinkFun
ThinkFun
ThinkFun, formerly known as Binary Arts, was founded in 1985 by Bill Ritchie and Andrea Barthello. The two started the company from the basement of their home in Virginia, with a product base that initially consisted of four games invented by a family friend William Keister...
. The puzzle consists of a gray base that resembles a city skyline, plus 36 colored towers. The towers come in six different colors and six different heights. The goal of the puzzle is to place all the towers onto the base so as to form a level cube with each of the six colors appearing once, and only once, in each row and column. The 36 cube was invented by Dr. Derrick Niederman
Derrick Niederman
Derrick Corson Niederman is an author, mathematician, game designer, and national squash champion. His most recent game, 36 Cube, has been described by Reuters as "a wolf in sheep's clothing" because its simple design belies the sophisticated mathematical intuition required for the solution. He...
, a PhD. at MIT. He came up with the idea while writing a book on whole numbers, after unearthing an 18th century mathematical hypothesis. This supposition, the 36 officer problem, requires placing six regiments of six differently-ranked officers in a 6-x-6 square without having any rank or regiment in the same column. Such an arrangement would form a Graeco-Latin square
Graeco-Latin square
In mathematics, a Graeco-Latin square or Euler square or orthogonal Latin squares of order n over two sets S and T, each consisting of n symbols, is an n×n arrangement of cells, each cell containing an ordered pair , where s is in S and t is in T, such that every row and every column contains...
. Euler conjectured there was no solution to this problem. Although Euler was correct, his conjecture was not settled until Gaston Tarry
Gaston Tarry
Gaston Tarry was a French mathematician. Born in Villefranche de Rouergue, Aveyron, he studied mathematics at high school before joining the civil service in Algeria....
came up with an exhaustive proof in 1901. However, ThinkFun's 36 cube puzzle does have a number of solutions, which nevertheless demonstrate the validity of Euler's hypothesis.
Euler's 36 officer problem is a mental challenge, which can be attempted either in one's head or on paper, whereas the 36 cube is a mechanical puzzle that must be played on a manufactured grid. Therefore, it requires some abstract thinking, and a certain amount of special insight. For example, there is a trick where two of the pieces fit in a spot that a player might not expect them to.
Awards
- 36 Cube - ASTRA Best Toy for Kids List - 2009
- 36 Cube - Parents' Choice Gold Award - 2009
- iParenting Media Awards Best Products of 2009