CUBES & DICE

1.

 Cubes & Dice

INTRODUCTION
What is a Dice?

A Dice is a cube. In a cube, there are six faces. Let’s study some basic facts
about the cube using the given figure.

The six faces in the cube are – ABCG, GCDE, DEFH, BCDH, AGEF and ABHF.

y Four faces are adjacent to one face.

y There are pairs of opposing faces e.g., opposite of AGEF is BCDH.
y GCDE is the upper face of the cube.
y ABHF is the bottom face of the cube.

Important Faces:

y A cube has 6 square faces or sides.

y A cube has 8 points (Vertices).
y A cube has 12 edges.
y Only 3 sides of a cube are visible at a time (known Rack your Brain
as “Joint Sides”) and these sides can never be on
the opposite side of each other. A dice is numbered from 1 to 6 in
y Most dice are cube-shaped, with the number 1 to different ways. If 5 is adjacent to 1,
6 on the different faces. 3, 4 then which of the following is
necessarily true?
Certain Basic Rules: (1) 3 is opposite to 4

There are certain dice rules in reasoning which (2) 5 is adjacent to 3

can be used to solve dice-based questions: (3) 2 is opposite to 6
Cubes & Dice

(4) 2 is adjacent to 6

2.
RULE 1
Two opposite faces of the dice cannot be adjacent to each other.

Illustration 1:

Two positions of a dice are shown below.

Here, faces with numbers 2, 6, 5 and 1 are adjacent to face number 3.

Therefore, the numbers 2, 6, 5, 1 can’t be opposite to face number 3.
Therefore, face number 3 is opposite to face number 4.

RULE 2
If two different positions of a dice are shown and one of the two common
faces is in the same position, then the remaining faces will be opposite to
each other.

Illustration 2:

Two dice are shown below.

In both diagrams, two faces numbered 1 and 3 are common.

Cubes & Dice

Also, 5 and 6 are the remaining faces. Hence, the face which is opposite to
number 5 is number 6.

3.
 RULE 3
If two different positions of dice, the position of a common face be the
same, then each of the opposite faces of the remaining faces will be in the
same position.

Illustration 3:

Explanation :

In both the positions, face number 2 is common for both the dice.
Therefore, the opposite of 1 is 6 and the opposite of 3 is 5.

RULE 4
If in two different positions of a dice, the position of the common face is
not the same, then opposite faces of the common face will be that which is
not shown on any face in these two positions. Besides, the opposite faces
of the remaining faces will not be the same.

Illustration 4:

Explanation :

Here, in two positions of a dice the face with number 1 is not in the same
position.
Cubes & Dice

The face with the number 6 is not shown.

Hence, the face opposite to the face with number 1 is 6.

4.
Now, to find the other opposite pair, use the clockwise rotation method.

Rack your Brain

What will be the number at the

bottom, if 3 is at the top, the two
positions of the dice being given
below?

So,

CONSTRUCTION OF CUBES/BOXES

The details of the cube formed when a sheet is folded to form a box/cube.

   
Cubes & Dice

5.
Cubes & Dice

    

    

6.
Some Examples and Solutions

Illustration 5:

If the given figure is folded, it forms a box. Which among the below boxes
will be formed?

Rack your Brain

Three different positions (i), (ii) and

(iii) of a dice are shown in the figure
given below. Which alphabet lies
opposite to M?

(1) L
(2) B
(3) D
(4) P

Sol. (3)

Explanation :

The given figure is similar to form II. Therefore, when the figure is folded to
form a cube, Then in this case,

Clearly, option (3) among the four cubes shown in figures (1), (2), (3), (4) can
Cubes & Dice

be formed by folding the sheet.

7.
 Illustration 6:

Choose the box that is similar to the box formed from the given sheet of
paper (X).

Previous Year Question

For the following question, use

the given figures

Four positions of a cube are shown

below, which symbol is opposite
to the face having ‘D’.

Question Figures:

Answer Figures:

(1) Only 2
(1) 3
(2) Only 1
(2) 1
(3) 2 and 3 only
(3) 2
(4) 1, 2, 3 and 4 only
(4) 4

Sol. (1)

Explanation :

Fig (X) is similar to form III. So, when the sheet in fig (X) is folded to form
a cube, then
Cubes & Dice

            

8.
Therefore, the cube in fig (1) which shows ‘Z’ adjacent to ‘V’, the cube in
fig (3) which shows ‘Y’ adjacent to ‘W’ and the cube in fig (4) which shows
‘U’ adjacent to ‘X’ cannot be formed.
Hence, only the cube in fig (2) can be formed.

Illustration 7:

How many dots lie opposite the face with two dots when the given figure
is folded to form a cube?

Rack your Brain

(1) 2
(2) 4 Which of the following cubes is the
(3) 5 answer figure that cannot be made
(4) 6 based on the unfolded cube in the
question figure?

Sol. (3)

Explanation :

The given figure is similar to form V. Therefore,

when the figure is folded to form a cube then,
the face bearing five dots will lie opposite the
face bearing two dots.
Cubes & Dice

9.
 Illustration 8:

Choose the box that is similar to the box formed from the given sheet of
paper (X).

Sol. (1 & 3)

Explanation :

Fig (X) is similar to the form IV. So, when the sheet in fig (X) is folded
to form a cube, then the face bearing a square lies opposite to the face
bearing a triangle. Therefore, the cubes shown in figure (2) and (4) which
have the faces bearing the square and the triangle adjacent to each other,
cannot be formed.
Hence, only the cubes in figures (1) and (3) can be formed.

CUBE CUTTING
Cubes & Dice

10.
When one makes a cut parallel to the base of the cube, one get two pieces
of the cube, if one makes another cut parallel to the base, one get three
pieces of the cube.
So, for n number of cuts mutually parallel to the base (or any other face),
the number of pieces will be,

(n + 1) pieces of cubes

Rack your Brain

If the total number of cuts is 14,

then find the ratio of maximum
If the number of cuts is two, one parallel to the and the minimum number of
base (say-x-axis) and another cut perpendicular pieces that can be obtained?
to the first cut (say y axis), the second cut will
(1) 12 : 1
divide each of the two pieces of cubes which get
from the first cut into two pieces. (2) 3 : 4
(3) 1 : 4
It gets total of 4 pieces of the cube.
(4) 1 : 12
Similarly, another cut parallel to both the
previous cuts (z-axis) will further divide these
4 pieces into two pieces each, thus making the
total pieces to 8.
It is clearly visible that when one make X
mutually parallel cuts along the x-axis, Y
mutually parallel cuts along the y-axis and
Z mutually parallel cuts along the z-axis,
it gets (X + 1) × (Y + 1) × (Z + 1) pieces of the
original cube. X cuts along x itself will produce
X + 1 pieces and when it cuts each of those
pieces with Y cuts, each of them will produce Y + Key Note
1 pieces and similarly with Z cuts.
If x = y = z and all the cuts are
Total number of pieces obtained with X cuts in equidistant then all the pieces are
the x-axis, Y cuts in the y-axis and Z cuts in the cubes otherwise they can be cube
Cubes & Dice

z-axis or cuboids.
= (X + 1) × (Y + 1) × (Z + 1).

11.
 If a total number of cuts are given, then find the total minimum
number of pieces
When the total number of cuts is given, the cuts can be made in any axis.
Say if one making a total of 17 cuts, all 17 cuts can be in x-axis or 8 in
x-axis and 9 in y-axis etc. For a given number of cuts, there can be several
combinations. To get the minimum number of pieces, all the cuts are made
on the same axis.
Now, if one makes all 17 cuts along the x-axis, a total of 18 pieces are
formed. All other combinations will result in more than 18 pieces.

Illustration 9:

If a total number of cuts are 13 (Let’s say, 11 cuts along the x-axis and 2 cuts
along the y-axis). Then find the total number of pieces?
(1) 22
(2) 15
(3) 36
(4) 30

Sol. (3)

Explanation :

If the total number of cuts is 13 i.e., 11 cuts along the x-axis and 2 cuts along
the y-axis
So, by using the above mentioned formula.
The total number of pieces will be, (11 + 1) × (2 + 1) = 36

If a total number of cuts are given, then find the maximum number
of pieces
To get the maximum number of pieces with the given number of cuts,
divide the total cuts equally among the three axes.
If the given number of cuts is 15, then divide 15 cuts equally among the
three axes, it gets 5 cuts in each axes resulting in (5 + 1) × (5 + 1) × (5 + 1)
= 216 pieces overall.
But if the number of cuts given cannot be divided equally among the three
Cubes & Dice

axis.

12.
If the given number of cuts is 14, it cannot be distributed equally among
all three axes. In such a case, to maximize the total number of pieces, one
needs to minimize the difference between the number of cuts in any two
axes is minimum.
So, for 14 cuts, it can be divided into X = 5, Y = 5, Z = 4. Any other combination
of numbers will result in a lower number of pieces.
Total maximum number of pieces = (5 + 1) × (5 + 1) × (4 + 1) = 180 pieces
overall

Illustration 10:

If the total number of cuts is 20 then find the ratio of maximum and the
minimum number of pieces that can be obtained?
(1) 274 : 21
(2) 448 : 21
(3) 122 : 21
(4) None of these

Sol. (2)

Explanation :

The minimum number of pieces = 20 + 1 = 21

The maximum number of pieces, cut has to be 7, 7 and 6.
The maximum number of pieces = (7 + 1) × (7 + 1) × (6 + 1) = 448
Hence, required ratio = 448 : 21

If the total number of pieces is given, then find the number of cuts:
Suppose, a cube is cut into 10 pieces.
Now, 10 = (x + 1) * (y + 1) * (z + 1)
Now, 10 is to be represented as the product of 3 numbers or factors.
Cubes & Dice

13.
 The Minimum number of cuts is obtained by factorizing the number of
pieces into three equal factors. If three equal factors are not possible, then
minimize the difference between the numbers. In the case of 10 pieces,
1 * 2 * 5 given the minimum difference between factors.
To maximize the total number of cuts, all the cuts are made in one axis for
instance, for 10 pieces, factors are 10 * 1 * 1 that means the x-axis cuts are
9 and no cut is made in the other two axes.

Illustration 11:

Find the least number of cuts required which can cut a cube into 24
identical pieces?
(1) 6
(2) 5
(3) 7
(4) 8

Sol. (1)

Explanation :

First of all, it is given that there are identical 24 pieces, factorize the number
into three numbers such that all the factors are greater than 1.
⇒ 24 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3
⇒ 24 = 2 × 3 × 4
Therefore, by using the above mentioned formulas, the number of pieces
along different axis leads to the formation of (x + 1) * (y + 1) * (z + 1) cubes.
Hence, by comparing one get x = 1, y = 2 and z = 3
So, least number of cuts = 6
Cubes & Dice

14.
PAINTED CUBE
A cube painted on all the faces is cut along length, breadth and height.
Few conclusions from the below figure:

1. Zero painted face: At the center of the larger cube.

2. Single painted face: Face of the larger cube.
3. Two painted faces: Along the edge of the larger cube.
4. Three painted faces: Corner of the larger cube.

Note : 
Note that there can be no smaller cube that has all the faces
painted.

Cube (n × n × n) cut into cubes:

Total number of cubes : n3
Zero painted face : (n – 2)3
Single painted face : 6 (n – 2)2
Two painted face : 12 (n – 2)
Three painted face : 8

If the number of cuts are not equal

Let's say if X = 4, Y = 5 and Z = 6, then:
Total number of cubes : X × Y × Z = 4 × 5 × 6 = 120
Zero painted face : (X–2) × (Y–2) × (Z–2) = 2 × 3 × 4 = 24

Single painted face : 2[(X – 2) (Y – 2) + (Y – 2) (Z – 2) + (Z – 2) (X – 2)]

= 2(6 + 12 + 8) = 52
Cubes & Dice

15.
 Two painted face : 4(x – 2) + 4(y – 2) + 4(z – 2)
= 8 + 12 + 16 = 36
Three painted face = 8 (all the corner cubes)

So, the above results represent the number of cubes that can be formed by
making the equal length cutting. The table below shows the direct results
which can be used in cube questions.

Total
O-Painted 1-Painted 2-Painted 3-Painted Number
Cube Painted
faces faces faces faces of cubes
Cubes

2 0 0 0 8 8 8

3 1 6 12 8 27 26

4 8 24 24 8 64 56

5 27 54 36 8 125 98

6 64 96 48 8 216 152

7 125 150 60 8 343 218

8 216 216 72 8 512 296

9 343 294 84 8 729 386

10 512 384 96 8 1000 488

Illustration 11:

A cube of side 20 cm is Red color with a 4 cm wide blue strip along all
the sides on all the faces. The cube is then cut into 125 smaller equal size
cubes.
(1) How many cubes have at least one face colored?
(2) How many cubes have at least two blue faces each?
(3) How many cubes have three blue faces each?
(4) How many cubes have one face Red and an adjacent face blue?
Cubes & Dice

16.
 Sol.
Explanation :

First of all the cube is cut into 125 smaller cubes of equal size.
So, the figure of the cube will be,

Hence, start by analyzing the figure. Five horizontal stacked layers are
present in the figure.

1. At least one face colored :

Total number of cubes with No painted face
= (n – 2)3 = (5 – 2)3 = 27
Therefore, there are (125 – 27) = 98 cubes that Rack your Brain
have at least one face color.
A cube is painted Yellow on two
2. At least two blue faces : adjacent surfaces and Green on
So, by subtracting the cubes with Red painted the surfaces opposite to Yellow
face and cubes with no painted face from the surfaces and Red on the remaining
total number of cubes. faces. Now the cube is cut into
343 smaller cubes of equal size.
Therefore, number of cubes with at least two
Find the number of cubes having
blue faces = 125 – (9 × 6) – 27 = 44
no surface painted?
3. Cubes with three blue faces: (1) 216
Since all the cubes with painted blue faces are (2) 121
at the corner. Therefore, the number of cubes (3) 64
Cubes & Dice

having 3 blue painted faces is 8.

(4) 125

17.
 4. One face Red and an adjacent face blue:
Since, there would be no cube having one face Red and an adjacent face
blue as all the blue painted cubes got paint on at least 2 faces. Therefore,
the answer is zero.

COUNTING OF CUBES

Illustration 12:

How many cubes are there in the given figure.

(1) 6
(2) 8
(3) 10
(4) 12

Sol. (3)

Explanation :

The given figure, consists of 1 column containing 3 cubes and 2 columns

containing 2 cubes each and 3 columns containing 1 cube each.
Number of cubes in column of 3 cubes = 1 × 3 = 3
Number of cubes in column of 2 cubes = 2 × 2 = 4
Number of cubes in column of 1 cube = 3 × 1 = 3
Cubes & Dice

Therefore, total number of cubes = 3 + 4 + 3 = 10

18.
 Illustration 13:

Find the number of cubes in the given figure?

(1) 13
(2) 14
(3) 15
(4) 16

Sol. (3)

Explanation :

From the given figure, it consists of 1 column containing 4 cubes each, 2

columns containing 4 and 3 columns containing 1 cube.
Number of cubes in column of 4 cubes = 1 × 4 = 4
Number of cubes in column of 4 cubes = 2 × 4= 8
Number of cubes in column of 1 cube = 3 × 1 = 3
Therefore, total number of cubes = 4+ 8 + 3 = 15
Cubes & Dice

19.
 Practice Exercise

EASY
1. W
 hat is the minimum number of pieces that can be obtained with 37 cuts
without putting the pieces one above another?
(1) 37
(2) 38
(3) 39
(4) 40

2. W
 hat is the maximum number of pieces that can be obtained with 26 cuts
without putting the pieces one above another?
(1) 1000
(2) 729
(3) 920
(4) 900

3. T
 he six faces of dice have been marked with alphabets M, N, O, P, Q and R
respectively. This dice is rolled down three times. The three positions are
shown as:

Find the alphabet opposite to M?

(1) O
(2) P
(3) Q
(4) R

4. If the total number of cuts is 35, then find the ratio of maximum and the
minimum number of pieces that can be obtained?
(1) 3 : 169
Practice Exercise

(2) 169 : 3
(3) 161 : 4
(4) None of these

20.
5. F
 ind the least number of cuts required which can cut a cube into 120
identical pieces?
(1) 12
(2) 11
(3) 10
(4) 9

MODERATE
6. F
 ind the least number of cuts required which can cut a cube into 210
smaller pieces without putting the pieces one above another?
(1) 15
(2) 17
(3) 18
(4) 19

Directions for questions (7-9):

A bigger cube is painted orange on each of its faces. Now the cube is cut
into 216 identical pieces making the minimum number of cuts.
7. How many of the smaller cubes will have exactly three faces painted?
8. How many of the smaller cubes will have exactly two faces painted?
9. How many of the smaller cubes will have exactly one face painted?

10. H
 ow many dots lie opposite to the face having two dots when the given
figure is folded to form a cube?

     

(1) 1
Practice Exercise

(2) 3
(3) 4
(4) 6

21.
 DIFFICULT
Directions for questions (11-15):
There is a cube having an edge of 8 cm each. It is painted Green on two
opposite faces, Yellow on one other pair of opposite faces, Black on one
more face and one face is left unpainted. Then it is cut into smaller cubes
of 1 cm each. Answer the following questions.
11. Find the total number of smaller cubes?
12. Find the number of smaller cubes that have three-faces painted?
13. Find the number of smaller cubes that have two faces painted?
14. Find the number of smaller cubes that have one-face painted?
15. Find the number of smaller cubes that have zero-face painted?

ANSWER KEY

1. (2) 2. (4) 3. (3) 4. (2) 5. (1)

6. (1) 7. (8) 8. (48) 9. (96) 10. (3)

11. (512) 12. (4) 13. (52) 14. (204) 15. (252)

SOLUTIONS

Sol. 1 (2)

Explanation :

There are 37 cuts in total, then all these 37 cuts can be on the x-axis or 18
on the x-axis and 19 on the y-axis etc. For the given number of cuts, there
will be several combinations. To get the minimum number of pieces, all the
cuts are made on the same axis.
Now, making all 37 cuts along the x-axis, a total of 38 pieces can be formed.
All the other combinations will result in more than 38 pieces.

Sol. 2 (4)
Practice Exercise

Explanation :

If the total number of cuts is 26, then for the maximum number of pieces,
these cuts have to be equally distributed in three planes.

22.
For 26 cuts, 8, 9 and 9 is the distribution of cuts.
Hence, the total number of pieces are (8 + 1) (9 + 1) (9 + 1)
= 9 × 10 × 10 = 900 pieces

Sol. 3 (3)

Explanation :

From figure (II) and (III), It is concluded that the alphabets P, O, R and N
appear adjacent to the alphabet Q.
Therefore, the alphabet M appears opposite Q.
Conversely, Q appears opposite M.

Sol. 4 (2)

Explanation :

Minimum number of pieces = (n + 1)

= 35 + 1 = 36 pieces
For maximum number of pieces, cuts has to be 11, 12, 12
Maximum number of pieces = (x + 1) × (y + 1) × (z + 1)
= (11 + 1) (12 + 1) (12 + 1) = 2028
100
Required ratio
= = 20%
5

Sol. 5 (1)

Explanation :

First of all, if there are 120 identical pieces, factorize the number into three
numbers such that all the factors are greater than 1.
120 = 4 × 5 × 6

Number of identical pieces = (X + 1) (Y + 1) (Z + 1)

(X, Y, Z) = number of cuts on each face

So, (X + 1) (Y + 1) (Z + 1) = 120
(3 + 1) (4 + 1) (5 + 1) = 120
Practice Exercise

Compare to the above formula, X = 3, Y = 4, Z = 5

Least number of cuts = 3 + 4 + 5 = 12

23.
 Sol. 6 (1)

Explanation :

First of all, if there will be 210 identical pieces, factorize the number into
three numbers such that all the factors are greater than 1.
Here, it can be seen 210 = 5 × 6 × 7 and this is the most uniformly distributed
way to write 210 as a product of 3 numbers. So it can be said that to have
5 pieces along a dimension there must be 4 cuts.
So, total number of cuts (5 – 1) + (6 – 1) + (7 – 1) = 15

Sol. 7 (8)

Explanation :

First of all, the cube is cut into 216 smaller cubes of equal size.
So, the figure of the cube will be.

Hence, Start by analyzing the figure.

Exactly three faces painted:

The cubes at the corners will have three faces painted. Thus, there will be
Practice Exercise

8 of them.

Note: For a proper cube, the answer is always 8.

24.
Sol. 8 (48)

Explanation :

First of all, the cube is cut into 216 smaller cubes of equal size.
So, the figure of the cube will be.

Hence, start by analyzing the figure.

Exactly two faces painted:

The cubes at the edges (excluding the corners) are the cubes with two
faces painted.
For n × n × n cube the answer will be 12 (n – 2)
Two painted faces = 12 (n – 2)
= 12 (6 – 2)
= 12 × 4 = 48 cubes
Practice Exercise

25.
 Sol. 9 (96)

Explanation :

First of all, the cube is cut into 216 smaller cubes of equal size.
So, the figure of the cube will be.

Hence, Start by analyzing the figure.

Exactly one face painted:

The cubes at the faces (apart from edges) will have only one face painted
for an n × n × n cubes the answer will be 6 (n – 2)2
One painted face = 6 (n – 2)2 = 6 (6 – 2)2 = 96 cubes
Practice Exercise

26.
Sol. 10 (3)

Explanation :

The above figure is similar to the figure asked in the question.

Therefore, when this similar figure is folded to form a cube then the face
bearing two dots will lie opposite the face bearing four dots.

Sol. 11 (512)

Explanation :

Total number of cubes = (8 × 8 × 8)/ (1 × 1 × 1) = 512 cubes

Sol. 12 (4)

Explanation :
Practice Exercise

For a cube with all sides painted, 8 cubes with 3 faces colored. But here 1
side is unpainted.

27.
 Therefore, there will be only 4 cubes with three faces painted. The other 4
cubes will have only 2 faces painted.

Sol. 13 (52)

Explanation :

For two faces painted, look for the edges.

A cube has 12 edges.
8 edges, each edge having 6 cubes will have two faces painted. (4 edges of
an unpainted face won’t be included).
Those 4 cubes (which did not count while counting three coloured faces,
as they have 2 faces painted) should also be included.
Cubes on 4 edges of the unpainted face of the cube will have one face
painted.
Therefore, total cubes with two faces painted = 8 × 6 + 4 = 52 cubes

Sol. 14 (204)

Explanation :
Practice Exercise

For one face painted, look for the faces of the cube.
A cube has six faces.

28.
5 faces each having (8 – 2) × (8 – 2) = 36 cubes will have one side painted.
Those cubes on the edges linked with an unpainted face should be included.
6 cubes on each of those edges will have one side painted.
Therefore, total cubes with one face painted = 5 × 36 + 6 × 4 = 204 cubes

Sol. 15 (252)

Explanation :

According to the formula, cubes with no face painted = (8 – 2)3 = 216

But have to include the cubes from the unpainted face to it will be 6 × 6 = 36
So, total number of unpainted cubes = 216 + 36 = 252 cubes

Practice Exercise

29.
 MIND MAP

Important Facts

♦ A cube has 6 square faces or sides

♦ A cube has 8 points (vertices)

♦ A cube has 12 edges

♦  nly 3 sides of a cube are visible at a time (known as “Joint Sides”) and
O
these sides can never be on the opposite side of each other.

♦ Most dice are cube shaped, with the number 1 to 6 on the different faces.
MIND MAP

30.