Question

4 solid cubes were made out of the same material. All four have different side lengths: 6cm, 8cm, 10cm, and 12cm. How to distribute the cubes onto two plates of a scale so the scale is balanced?

Answer 1

The volumes of the cubes are 6³ = 216, 8³ = 512, 10³ = 1,000 and 12³ = 1,728 for a combined volume of 216 + 512 + 1,000 + 1,728 = 3456 which means that each side of the scale must have a combined volume of 3456 / 2 = 1728. This means that in order for the scale to be balanced we need to put the 12 cm cube on one side and the other 3 cubes on the other side.