Question

A cube of edge $3$ cm is cut into $N$ smaller cubes, not all the same size. If the edge of each of the smaller cubes is a whole number of centimeters, then $N =$

$4$

$8$

$12$

$16$

$20$

Answer: E

Concepts:cube geometry volume

Difficulty rating: 1140

Solution:

The $3 \times 3 \times 3$ cube has volume $27.$ Since the cubes are smaller and have whole-number edge lengths, their edges are $1$ or $2$ . Two edge- $2$ cubes cannot be disjoint inside the original cube: separating them would require a total span of at least $4$ in some direction. Thus at most one edge- $2$ cube fits.

The remaining $27 - 8 = 19$ of volume is filled by $19$ unit cubes. That is $1 + 19 = 20$ cubes.

Thus, the correct answer is E .

1991 AMC 8 Problem 24

Answer: E

Difficulty rating: 1140

Solution:

Problem 24 in Other Years