Prince Rupert's cube
Encyclopedia
In geometry
, Prince Rupert's cube is the largest cube
that can pass through a hole drilled through a unit cube
, i.e. through a cube whose sides have length 1. Curiously, it is slightly larger than the unit cube, with a side length of
It is named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine
, who posed the question of what the maximal such cube was in the 17th century. The question was first answered by Dutch
mathematician
Pieter Nieuwland.
Geometry
Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
, Prince Rupert's cube is the largest cube
Cube
In geometry, a cube is a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex. The cube can also be called a regular hexahedron and is one of the five Platonic solids. It is a special kind of square prism, of rectangular parallelepiped and...
that can pass through a hole drilled through a unit cube
Cube
In geometry, a cube is a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex. The cube can also be called a regular hexahedron and is one of the five Platonic solids. It is a special kind of square prism, of rectangular parallelepiped and...
, i.e. through a cube whose sides have length 1. Curiously, it is slightly larger than the unit cube, with a side length of
It is named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, 1st Duke of Cumberland, 1st Earl of Holderness , commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, KG, FRS was a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century...
, who posed the question of what the maximal such cube was in the 17th century. The question was first answered by Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
Pieter Nieuwland.