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'Building with Cubes' printed from https://nrich.maths.org/

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A. Imagine you have five cubes. They are blue, red, yellow, black and orange:

five cubes: blue, red, yellow, black and orange


Now imagine making this building.

Start with the yellow cube.
Put the black cube just behind it.
Put the orange cube on top of the black cube.
Put the red cube on the left of the yellow cube.
Put the blue cube on the right of the black cube.

What does your building look like?

Try using cubes to check whether you had pictured it correctly.
Please draw or photograph your building and send it in to us.

B. Now imagine you have six cubes. They are orange, yellow, black, brown, pink and red:

six cubes: orange, yellow, black, brown, pink, red


In your head, start with the red and the black cubes. Put the black cube underneath the red cube.
Put the orange cube on the right hand side of the black cube.
Put the yellow cube just in front of the orange cube.
Put the pink cube on the right of the yellow cube.
Put the brown cube on top of the pink cube.

What does your building look like?

Try using cubes to check whether you had pictured it correctly.
Once again, please draw or photograph your building and send it in to us.

If you've enjoyed this problem, you might like to have a go at More Buiding with Cubes.