Minus Cube
Encyclopedia
The Minus Cube is a 3D
mechanical
variant of the n-puzzle
which was manufactured in the Soviet Union
. It consists of a bonded transparent plastic box containing seven small cubes, each glued together from two U-shape parts: one white and one coloured. The length of one side of the interior of the box is slightly more than twice the length of the side of a small cube. There is an empty space the size of one small cube inside the box and the small cubes are moveable inside the box by tilting the box causing a cube to fall into the space. The goal of the puzzle is to shuffle the cubes in such a way that on each side of the box, all of the faces of the small cubes are one color.
There were two types of Minus Cubes manufactured: the so-called "Moscow
Minus Cube" (red-white) and "Sverdlovsk
Minus Cube" (blue-white), each named after the cities in which they were produced. They differed only in the orientation of one of the small cubes. Because of this difference there are 12 times as many "solved" arrangements for the Moscow Minus Cube, and thus the Sverdlovsk Minus Cube is 12 times more difficult to solve. However, if one does not confine oneself to these two types of the Minus Cube, there are 48 Minus Cube variants which can be solved.
Three-dimensional space
Three-dimensional space is a geometric 3-parameters model of the physical universe in which we live. These three dimensions are commonly called length, width, and depth , although any three directions can be chosen, provided that they do not lie in the same plane.In physics and mathematics, a...
mechanical
Mechanical puzzle
A mechanical puzzle is a puzzle presented as a set of mechanically interlinked pieces.- History :The oldest known mechanical puzzle comes from Greece and appeared in the 3rd century BC....
variant of the n-puzzle
N-puzzle
The 15-puzzle is a sliding puzzle that consists of a frame of numbered square tiles in random order with one tile missing. The puzzle also exists in other sizes, particularly the smaller 8-puzzle...
which was manufactured in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. It consists of a bonded transparent plastic box containing seven small cubes, each glued together from two U-shape parts: one white and one coloured. The length of one side of the interior of the box is slightly more than twice the length of the side of a small cube. There is an empty space the size of one small cube inside the box and the small cubes are moveable inside the box by tilting the box causing a cube to fall into the space. The goal of the puzzle is to shuffle the cubes in such a way that on each side of the box, all of the faces of the small cubes are one color.
There were two types of Minus Cubes manufactured: the so-called "Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
Minus Cube" (red-white) and "Sverdlovsk
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the eastern side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Urals Federal District with a population of 1,350,136 , making it Russia's...
Minus Cube" (blue-white), each named after the cities in which they were produced. They differed only in the orientation of one of the small cubes. Because of this difference there are 12 times as many "solved" arrangements for the Moscow Minus Cube, and thus the Sverdlovsk Minus Cube is 12 times more difficult to solve. However, if one does not confine oneself to these two types of the Minus Cube, there are 48 Minus Cube variants which can be solved.
