do you know geometry?

It's obvious, or should be to any engineer. You just envision a box, and unfold it in your head.

It's basically a Christian cross.

Every time I try that the paper just stays flat.

I think you need special paper...

You can do it with a *square* piece of paper.

Weird.. do they only do five 'pieces' a base and four sides?

My problems are the interior folding lines. When I try to draw them, I don't have an interior anymore. There is something Zenish going on here.

mike

Just be in the box.

So...you're implying that it's my *unfolding* of the box that causes the interior to disappear...This three dimensional space of yours is certainly taking getting used to.

mike

--- Or:

_ _ _ _ _ _ | | | | |_ _|_ _|_ _| | | |_ _| | | |_ _| | | |_ _|

Or:

_ _ _ _ | | | |_ _|_ _|_ _ | | | |_ _|_ _| | | |_ _| | | |_ _|

_ _ _ _ | | | |_ _|_ _| | | |_ _|_ _ | | | |_ _|_ _| | | |_ _|

_ _ _ _ | | | |_ _|_ _| | | |_ _| | | |_ _|_ _ | | | |_ _|_ _|

_ _ | | |_ _|_ _ | | | _ _|_ _|_ _| | | | |_ _|_ _| | | |_ _|

-- JF

Maybe because there are so many ways it can be done? I thought of 2 ways in less than 2 minutes and quit because it is so simple.

Check.

I'm an athiest, can I use a T that's 3 units wide & 4 units tall with a

It's that small a number only if you restrict yourself to those configurations in which each face of the cube must consist of a single square cut out from the original sheet, and joins can occur only at the face-to-face edges of the cube. That's a limitation which was

If even one face of the cube is allowed to be made from two or more non-overlapping (but exactly-joining) sub-faces made up of non-square portions of the shape that you cut out (i.e. these sub-faces meet in the middle of one of the cube's faces), then there are an infinite number of cutout shapes which will qualify.

Exactly. There was no mention as to how *complex* the folding process was expected to be.

(Nor any mention as to whether or not the folded paper would *hold* the shape of its own accord)

Yes. I know of at least two different ways of folding a perfectly *square* piece of paper into a cube (without the benefit of scissors). I could probably come up with more if pressed...

And, by extension, any rectangular piece of paper (I think all I need is a right angle, somewhere).

You just have to NOT think in "pedestrian" turns. Think outside the box -- er, *cube*! :>

How big is the cube going to be? Your light on design input;)

I got a 11 x 17" piece of paper here.....

Am I allowed to use a ruler?

Cheers

there's several shapes that work

[][][] [][][] [] [][][] [][] possibly posibly others too...

I stopped looking after finding 8

That can't be right. John Fields has declared that there are only six.