Can you solve the alien probe riddle? - Dan Finkel
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TEDEd Animation
Let’s Begin…
Your team has developed a probe to study an alien monolith. It needs protective coatings — in red, purple and green — to cope with the environments it passes through. Can you figure out how to apply the colors so the probe survives the trip? Dan Finkel shows how.
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Additional Resources for you to Explore
A larger 4 by 4 by 4 probe were assembled from 64 smaller cubes. If you needed to paint this in 4 different colors instead of 3, could it be done?
To solve this, you’ll want to think about the solution for the 3-color cube. Paint the entire thing red, then look at how many cubes have 0, 1, 2, or 3 faces painted. Then think of how you could use symmetry to paint the other three colors in as well. Note: the 4-color version of this problem CAN be solved!
Looking for more math games? Check out the educator’s website.
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Meet The Creators
- Educator
- Daniel Finkel
- Animator
- Anton Trofimov
- Narrator
- Addison Anderson
- Content Producer
- Gerta Xhelo
- Editorial Producer
- Alex Rosenthal
