Cuba Soma ( eng. Soma cube ) - a puzzle that includes seven figures consisting of identical cubes. All seven pieces can be stacked in a 3 × 3 × 3 cube.
Soma cubes can be considered a three-dimensional analogue of polyomino .
Content
Description
The set includes 7 figures. One of the figures is composed of three cubes, and the rest of the four:
Out of all 7 figures, one large cube with a size of 3 × 3 × 3 cubes can be added. There are 240 ways to do this (except for rotations and specular reflections) [1] [2] ; a complete list of all 240 decisions was compiled by hand by John Conway and in 1961 [2] .
The attractiveness of the puzzle is that in addition to the main task (cube assembly) there are no less difficult tasks of assembling other interesting figures [3] [4] .
History
Pete Hein invented soma cubes in 1933 [5] during a lecture by the famous scientist Werner Heisenberg on quantum mechanics [1] [3] .
The name of the puzzle was borrowed from Aldous Huxley’s novel O Brave New World , in which the drug was called soma [5] [6] .
In Russia, the set is also known as “Cubes for all” [7] [4] [8] [1] .
See also
- Tangram
- Polymino
- Bedlam Cube
- Puzzle Slotober - Graatsmy
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 I. Konstantinov. Pete Hein's Cubes . Science and life (5 1998). The appeal date is August 3, 2013.
- ↑ 1 2 Winning Ways IV, 2003 .
- ↑ 1 2 Gardner M. Math puzzles and fun. Ch. 21, Soma cubes, p. 176-185
- ↑ 1 2 Nikitin B.P. Steps of creativity, or educational games. Cubes for all , with. 128-137. Archived copy of May 9, 2012 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ 1 2 The official history of SOMA . Circulation date August 5, 2013. Archived August 17, 2013.
- ↑ The meaning of SOMA
- ↑ Cubes for everyone. Science and Life №3 (1963), p. 80; №4 (1963), p. 99; №2 (1973), p. 84—86
- ↑ Vladimir Shibinsky . Soma cubes - the composition of extreme figures. Science and Life, №№ 8—11 (2010)
Literature
- Nikitin B.P. Steps of creativity, or Educational games . - 3rd ed., Ext. .. - M . : Enlightenment, 1991. - 160 p. - ISBN 5-09-003963-1 .
- Gardner M. Mathematical puzzles and entertainment = Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions / Trans. Yu. A. Danilov , ed. Ya. A. Smorodinsky . - 2nd ed. - M .: Mir, 1999. - ISBN 5-03-003340-8 .
- Elwyn R. Berlekamp, John H. Conway , Richard K. Guy . Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays (English) . - 2nd ed. - AK Peters, 2003. - T. 4. - P. 843-847, 910-913. - ISBN 1-56881-144-6 .