Eureka puzzle

I came upon a whack of puzzles at a website I was visiting and thought to share this one with you.A carpenter, working with a buzz saw, wishes to cut a wooden cube, three inches on a side, into 27 one-inch cubes. He can do this job easily by making six cuts through the cube, keeping the pieces together in the cube shape. Can he reduce the number of necessary cuts by rearranging the pieces after each cut?Is there a quick way of seeing the answer?[This message has been edited by sidelined, 01-30-2004]

Just a nit, the saw has zero kerf, right?

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Common sense isn't

Are we supposed to answer here?

NOOOOOOOOO! That would give it away to others. By mail to the originator is the way to go.

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Common sense isn't

Hi sidelined!You must have been reading my mind, I was just looking at that page yesterday (I got there from a link I found in an EvC thread). If it's the puzzle I'm thinking of then yes, there is. But I won't ruin it for everybody else.

NedThe kerf doesn't affect the outcome.

Mr Jack
You can send it to my email address. This will give me a chance to read something other than penis enlargement spam.

Tony650I wonder if you got it off a link I supplied?

Ah, indeed I did! You posted them on: http://EvC Forum: Favorite web pageI spent hours surfing around those sites yesterday and enjoyed them immensely! Thank you!I loved the "Springer style" philosophy. That was gold!Jerry: Well, Ursula, come on. Don't you agree that the roots of contemporary neo-Leftism simply have to be sought in Enlightenment political philosophy?Ursula: History is the discourse of powerful centrally located voices marginalizing and de-scribing the sub-altern!Todd: See what I have to put up with?Classic!I liked it all but I really enjoyed the Feynman link, and some of the stuff it lead to, like the "Da Vinci Days." In fact I have a question...I don't suppose you know if there is somewhere I can see an image of the "Nutty nuts" from a different angle? I'm very interested in seeing how they are actually constructed. In case you haven't seen them, there are images of them at the top of this page: http://www.explorepdx.com/dvd.htmlI have always loved these kinds of illusions and I think I have a basic idea of where everything is going in this one, but I'd like to know for sure by seeing its actual structure (as opposed to its apparent structure). Do you know where I can see an image (or even a sketch or diagram) of this?And once again, thanks for the great sites!

Tony650I enjoyed the causes of deaths of philosophers especially these two.Nietzsche: Overpowered himself
Ockham: Shaved beyond necessityAs for the 'nutty nuts' I do remember seeing it in an issue of Skeptical Inquirer May/June 1996 and I believe the answer lies in the nut on the left side.The illusion is caused by the inner thread that is facing you as well as the bend of metal forming the apparent sides of the body of the nut. The thread actually curves toward you and not inward as an actual nut would do. I shall endeavour to track down the article and get back to you.What I find great about the website http://www.explorepdx.com/dvd.html is that I have been gioing back and forth for months and I still haven't gone through everything.

Heh heh, I don't remember reading that one (the deaths of philosophers). I'll have to do it sometime. There's just so much there! Yes, I was thinking loosely along those lines. I was actually thinking that one (or both?) of them may be completely inverted such that, while they appear to be more or less perpendicular, the holes actually line up quite nicely.However when I look at the images I'm having trouble visualizing the details of its construction. Argh! I must be suffering a mild dose of brain-death, heh heh. When I was a kid I made my own "impossible triangle" and I don't recall having these kinds of problems working out how to build it (or at least, the illusion of it) in the real world. Sure it was only cardboard and sticky tape but it looked pretty darn convincing, if I do say so myself. Well, until you looked at it from a different angle of course. Seriously? Wow, thank you very much! I don't know what to say. I appreciate that more than you can imagine sidelined. Thanks again!

This is a note to recognize sfs has having sent me the right answer.Congrats old boy.
Go to http://www.foliophoto.co.uk/...tyle/lifestyle_picture27.html
for your virtual prize.

Tony650I found out that the man behind the nutty nuts is a Jerry Andrus. I have not been able to track down exactly how he did the trick. I believe if you were able to get ahold of a copy of Skeptical Inquirer and track down the Australian affiliated organization located at the back of the magazine perhaps they could shed more light on this. You could check out this cool illusion of his which is revealed on the same page.
Unable to find a route to match the URI: artillusion3.htm - Kuils
Let me know how it goes.

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'Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts.'
(Daniel Patrick Moynihan)

Outstanding! Thanks sidelined! You have no idea how much good stuff I found just by doing a Google on that name! Thanks for the link! I checked out the other stuff there too and ended up bookmarking it. Sure, only too happy to!Well I did find this page: http://members.aol.com/MWKE802/andrus.html If I'm seeing this correctly, it would seem that it is the nut on the right which is inverted...if I'm seeing it correctly.I also found this one: http://www.thenakedpcstore.com/planb/illusions A different image of the nuts illusion can be found at the bottom of this page and if you look at the upper part of the "inside" of the thread on the left nut, you can see that there's something very "un-solid" about it.So I'm really not sure at this point. It could be right, left or both. On the other hand perhaps it's just the same set flipped upside down?At the risk of getting off topic, I also found a page with an image of the "impossible triangle", just in case anyone was uncertain what I was referring to in my last post. There's a diagram at the top of the page and if you scroll down a little, a real-world version, which is of the same design as the one I made. It has a mirror behind it so you can see what's really going on. It's at: No webpage found at provided URL: http://psylux.psych.tu-dresden.de/i1/kaw/diverses%20Material/www.illusionworks.com/html/impossible_triangleI found some other good stuff that I'd like to post, but I fear we're already getting too far off the original topic so I'd better stop now.Thanks again for the info sidelined, I really appreciate it!

Tony650 I am beginning to think seemingly solid sides of the nuts are in fact necker cube illusions where it is a trick of your mind percieving three dimensions where none exist.

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'Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts.'
(Daniel Patrick Moynihan)