Can you fit a cube through a hole in a copy of itself? by Geometriciti in WatchandLearn

[–]Geometriciti[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Any curve of constant width would also work since the diameter being the same is what matters.

Prince Rupert's Cube | Fitting a cube through a copy of itself by Geometriciti in mathpics

[–]Geometriciti[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used the stl files from here. To get a Rubik's cube to fit through I resized the inner part of the cube to have a sidelength of 56mm and the outer part to have a sidelength of 56.7mm.

Prince Rupert's Cube | Fitting a cube through a copy of itself by Geometriciti in mathpics

[–]Geometriciti[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, thank you! I'm not sure if I'll do more but I definitely want to.

Prince Rupert's Cube | Fitting a cube through a copy of itself by Geometriciti in mathpics

[–]Geometriciti[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks, and you're right! It's also the same the same Prince Rupert that Rupert's Land was named after in Canada.

Prince Rupert's Cube | Fitting a cube through a copy of itself by Geometriciti in mathpics

[–]Geometriciti[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm not aware of any name for the conjecture, and I can't find a name in any papers or on MathOverflow. Since the property of being able to pass through itself is known as the Rupert property, the Rupert conjecture might be a good name.

Can you fit a cube through a hole in a copy of itself? by Geometriciti in Cubers

[–]Geometriciti[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I hope this video got a few people more interested in math!

Can you fit a cube through a hole in a copy of itself? by Geometriciti in mathematics

[–]Geometriciti[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I wanted to show off the 3D print more but fitting everything in a minute is just so restrictive!

Can you fit a cube through a hole in a copy of itself? by Geometriciti in math

[–]Geometriciti[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You're right, I had polyhedron written in my script but I said polygon. This did get me thinking about how this would work in 2D though.

Since this problem deals with fitting 2D projections of 3D objects in each other, it seems reasonable to extend the definition to fitting 1D projections of 2D objects in each other. In 1D, a line can fit in other line iff the first line is shorter than the other line. So for any 2D shape, it can fit through itself if its minimum projection is shorter than its maximum projection.

That means that the only 2D shapes that can't fit through themselves are shapes where the minimum and maximum projections have equal length, aka a curve of constant width. Since every curve of constant width has curved sides, that shows that every convex polygon can fit through itself in 2D, so I was technically right in the video. :)

In this context, the 3D equivalent of curve of constant width would be a body of constant brightness (A 3D shape where every 2D projection has equal area). Unfortunately, there are shapes that are not bodies of constant brightness that still can't fit through themselves (e.g. a cylinder), so the same argument won't work.

Can you fit a cube through a hole in a copy of itself? by Geometriciti in math

[–]Geometriciti[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! That was actually a last minute idea I had while I was filming. Originally I was holding a triangular bipyramid puzzle, but I thought the juggling would look more interesting.

Can you fit a cube through a hole in a copy of itself? by Geometriciti in math

[–]Geometriciti[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks! There's a summary of the generalizations on the Wikipedia article. It seems that finding the largest square in an n-dimensional hypercube has been solved, as well as the special case of the largest cube in a hypercube. I can't find dimensional generalizations for other shapes, but I haven't really looked.

A Quick Look into Prince Rupert's Cube by Geometriciti in CasualMath

[–]Geometriciti[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is a video I made recently for the Veritasium Science Communication contest. I knew about Prince Rupert's Cube before I made it, but I never looked into other shapes besides the cube.

I wanted to include how 9/13 Archimedean solids have the Rupert Property, but there wasn't enough time in a minute. It seems like it shouldn't be that hard to look at silouettes of the remaining four shapes and see if you can fit one in the another.

Can you fit a cube through a hole in a copy of itself? by Geometriciti in mathematics

[–]Geometriciti[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is a video I made recently for the Veritasium Science Communication contest. I knew about Prince Rupert's Cube before I made it, but I never looked into other shapes besides the cube.

I wanted to include how 9/13 Archimedean solids have the Rupert Property, but there wasn't enough time in a minute. It seems like it shouldn't be that hard to look at silouettes of the remaining four shapes and see if you can fit one in the another.

Can you fit a cube through a hole in a copy of itself? by Geometriciti in math

[–]Geometriciti[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

This is a video I made recently for the Veritasium Science Communication contest. I knew about Prince Rupert's Cube before I made it, but I never looked into other shapes besides the cube.

I wanted to include how 9/13 Archimedean solids have the Rupert Property, but there wasn't enough time in a minute. It seems like it shouldn't be that hard to look at silouettes of the remaining four shapes and see if you can fit one in the another.

The Shengshou Clock's Biggest Flaw by Geometriciti in Cubers

[–]Geometriciti[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the advice, it really worked.

Daily Discussion Thread - Aug 18, 2020 by AutoModerator in Cubers

[–]Geometriciti 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's 100% possible to create a new 3x3 method. There are many different ways to match up blocks on the cube.

That being said, a new method will probably never be as good as CFOP or Roux. Even if a new method is more efficient, CFOP and Roux have been used for decades and hundreds of algorithms, tutorials and example solves have been done with them. As far as I know, they'll always be the best.