Mathematics and OrigamiFigs. 7 to 8 show how the assembly is completed.
18.8.3 Magic CUBE, by Jeremy Shafer.
In my opinion, this is the most fascinating discovery I have come across along the
whole art of origami. The reason: it is simple, beautiful and original. Before I describe its 3D
nature, I shall indulge myself of a 2D digression.
Fig. 2 is the same Fig. 1 after 180º rotation. Both are plane and look like a tessellated
floor.
The figures appear to be composed by six hexagons plus some rhombs: two of them
white, two shady and two dark, to add up to a total of 24 rhombs. We may notice that 3 equal
size rhombs make a hexagon. This will be seen again when dealing with the aragonite’s twin
crystal.
Not with much concentration one can see 6 cubes in Fig. 1 and 7 in Fig. 2. Being con-
gruent both figures, one can actually see 6 or 7 cubes regardless of the figure we look at, but it
requires a greater concentration to see 7 cubes in Fig. 1 and 6 in Fig. 2.
Up to now we have disclosed the passage from 2D, to some virtual cubes. What offers
the Jeremy Shafer ́s cube is the virtual passage from a concave tri-rectangle trihedral, to a con-
vex cube, both in the 3-D mode. Besides, it adds a prodigious virtual movement of this virtual
(^12)