The Cube

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Chapter 1 The Cube

We begin our mathematical explorations in a place that may seem unusual. The Rubik’s Cube, invented

¹

Or, to use Rubik’s word, discovered.

in the 1970s by Hungarian architecture professor Erno Rubik, is the best-selling toy of all time. It is also a rich mathematical playscape, a tactile means of exploring and challenging our fundamental ideas around what counts as an arithmetic operation.

The Cube’s colorful, playful nature also underscores our purpose in beginning with it. Specifically, exploring the Cube will help us develop some of the virtues Francis Su identifies in [1] under the desire of play: exploring the Cube will hopefuly pique your curiosity and build your patience and perseverance. Solving it will require you to change perspectives and build confidence in struggle. And, I hope, the satisfaction and joy you experience in finally solving it will engender an openness of spirit that we will carry into further explorations for the rest of the text.

As we begin, I also wish to acknowledge the efforts of the Discovering the Art of Mathematics
²
www.artofmathematics.org/
project, especially the Games and Puzzles

³

www.artofmathematics.org/books/games-and-puzzles

book. I learned the Rubik’s Cube by reading and teaching their work, and it is impossible to overstate their influence on this chapter.