Probably going nuts, actually, at 06:04 PM 4/26/02, Julia wrote: >A few years ago, I received as a Christmas present a devilishly >difficult wooden puzzle. The most efficient way of packing it involves >putting it together in the "solved" position and then putting it in a >box with other assorted oddments. > >It came with instructions. I saved them. I'm not sure where, though. >I've gone through the papers I *thought* it was with, and it's not >there. > >The puzzle is like one of those 7-piece ones, 6 consisting of unique >4-cube shapes and the 7th a 3-cube shape, which put together make a 3 X >3 X 3 cube. If this were made of actual *cubes*, I could solve it in a >minute (well, maybe 90 seconds), and I do in fact have the documentation >that came with a regular *cube* set. This one has the base pieces >angled so that the corners are all either about 65 degrees or 115 >degrees, which greatly limits the way they can be assembled together. >With 90 degree angles, there are over a million solutions; with the >65/115 solids, there are at least 2, but there might not be any more >than that. > >When I took it apart, I noted the position of one of the pieces, and >I've been trying to figure it out from there, but with no success so >far, and I don't really have time to fiddle with it anymore. (We may be >moving as soon as 10 weeks from tomorrow, and there is an awful lot of >stuff that has to get done, and a baby and 2 dogs to take care of, etc., >etc. Plus the scheduled breaks that I'll need for my sanity, and not to >be using on this problem.) > >So, > >1) If anyone has such a puzzle and can find the directions and would be >willing to share, please let me know. > >2) If anyone knows that the solution can be found on-line somewhere and >can provide me with a URL, I'd be grateful. > >3) If anyone is willing to take from me a more precise description of >each of the pieces and write a program to crunch out the solution, I'd >be extremely happy about that. (I have a vague idea about one way to do >that, but I haven't programmed anything since college and would be a >little lost on my own.) > >4) If anyone has psychic powers and can tell me to a reasonable degree >of preciseness where my own @#$% instructions are, I'd settle for >knowing *that*. ;) (A reasonable degree of preciseness would lead me >to find them within 5 minutes of making the effort with this >information.)
Or, given the amount of time you have spent trying to recall the solution or find the instructions, one might suggest that *currently* the �most efficient��read as �quickest��way of packing it involves course of action #5: 5) Put the pieces in a Zip-loc bag and throw said bag into [one of] the box[es] labelled �miscellaneous.� -- Ronn! :) God bless America, Land that I love! Stand beside her, and guide her Thru the night with a light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans, white with foam� God bless America! My home, sweet home. -- Irving Berlin (1888-1989)
