Early History of Magic Cubes (1100–1850)

An investigation into the predecessors of the magic cube.

Early History of Magic Cubes (1100–1850) explores the evolution of magic cubes before the commonly accepted conditions were established in the late nineteenth century. These conditions dictate that a cube must show the same sum in each horizontal, vertical, and front-to-back row, as well as in the four internal diagonals, to be considered magic.

However, prior to this period, magic cubes were constructed following different rules. The earliest known study dates back to twelfth-century Persia. Pierre de Fermat (1601-1665) also investigated them during the seventeenth century. Unbeknownst to previous work and using a distinct design, the French mathematician Joseph Sauveur (1653-1716) introduced a construction method, which was later adopted by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's (1646-1716) circle.

This method saw further development in the 1830s but eventually fell out of use once the modern definition of the magic cube took precedence.