You might wonder the formula for the magic number, since no matter how you construct this magic cube, the stem of the magic number will be related to it. Suppose a n -dimensional magic cube arranged in an × × …× structure, the formula for the magic number would be:
( + 1) 2
() =
Looking into the higher dimensions has always been a hard thing to do, and the seemingly convincing results we get could sometimes be more confusing than the question itself. Imagine throwing a paper ball to a whiteboard with 2-dimensional creatures on it. What they would see would only be a cross-section of the
paper ball and its changing shapes will not follow their laws of physics. But just now, we put ourselves as ‘flatlanders’. The 4d model above is technically correct, but if a 4d visitor decides to take you into his dimension to show you this magic cube, you would be seeing blobs and spheres and other things that make absolutely no sense - could this explain why movie makers decide to put a blurring and confusing background every time there’s a scene of time travel? There are so many integer sequences out there and you can just pick one from the pool and spend the whole afternoon looking into it. There is even an encyclopaedia just for integer sequences – oeis.org , or The Online Encyclopaedia of Integer Sequences. By 2015, there were at least 250,000 sequences on their list – go have a look and see if you find something new. The earliest, pre-historic mathematics that could be 20,000 years old started as human began to quantify things around them – time, matter, etc. The concept of numbers is always the essence of our world and writing this article has been a good experience; reminding me of a page I haven’t turned over for a long time. And most importantly of all, I hope you, fellow mathematicians, have enjoyed reading this.
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