Message #959

From: matthewsheerin <damienturtle@hotmail.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [MC4D] 3D implementation of 4D
Date: Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:19:06 -0000

— In 4D_Cubing@yahoogroups.com, Melinda Green <melinda@…> wrote:

> Wow, that’s incredible! I mean this puzzle looks rather awkward and
> possibly too simple, but incredible that someone’s made a physical 4D
> puzzle. I’ve been casually thinking about how someone could build even a
> physical 2^4 puzzle, and I imagined using deformable struts something
> like this one but I still haven’t thought of the key that would make
> such a thing work. I definitely hope that this will indeed be the first
> of many such puzzles.

I’ve always imagined using some sort of deforming structure myself, but I’ve never came up with a way to turn it into a n^4 puzzle, or even a good way to get the basic shape. I never thought about having just the shape as a puzzle, with the objective to use a series of 4D rotations to achieve a certain effect. Now that someone has figured out how to make the shapes (a tesseract is on its way apparently), maybe someone can think of a way to augment the design to turn it into one of the 4D puzzles we are more familiar with. I think I’m going to end up puzzling over that one for a while now, it would be amazing to see it done. At this point, we don’t even know if it’s possible! I would like to think that it is, and one day we will see a 2^4 or 3^4 being made.

> > Matt
> >
> > PS. I have recently started posting on that forum under my online alias of bobthegiraffemonkey (the name started when I was bored one night on MSN … very bored).
> >
>
> And more than a little chemically challenged, I would hazard. ;-)
>
> -Melinda
>

Thanks Melinda, that made me laugh :). Surprisingly not though, just bored and maybe a little hyper, but completely sober.

Matt