All (!) Three-Part Variations on Three Different Kinds of Cubes
Robert Bosch and Ilana McNamara

Proceedings of Bridges 2023: Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Culture
Pages 545–548
Short Papers

Abstract

Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) made or designed several artworks whose titles contain the phrase “three-part variations on three different kinds of cubes.” To a mathematician, these pieces suggest a combinatorics problem: How many variations are there? In this paper we present a new way of diagramming LeWitt’s variations, we describe how to solve the combinatorics problem using Burnside’s Counting Theorem, and we share some photos of our 3D-printed versions of the variations, including a new 57th variation.

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