MathematicianSøren Eilerswas intrigued by a LEGO - related mathematics problem . Let ’s say you have six " standard LEGO bricks " ( the rectangular 4x2 bricks see inthe original LEGO patent of invention ) . If you equip them together , how many possible social system can you make ?
This interrogative sentence was first officially " answer " in 1974 , and LEGO mathematicians arrived at the number 102,981,500 . Eilers was curious about the numerical methodological analysis behind that number , and presently discovered that it only cover one variety of stacking — thus , it was dramatically low . So hewrote a computer programthat modeled all the possible brick combination . After running the programme for a workweek , he ended up with a massive number:915,103,765 combinations .
( Incidentally , Eilers encouraged high school student Mikkel Abrahamsen to compose another program in a different programming language , on a different calculation weapons platform , without consulting on the solution or methodology . When Abrahamsen ’s programme concluded , the mathematics equal up — and Abrahamsen ’s method for calculate it was actually superior ! )
Then , of class , Eilers had to ask what pass if you added a seventh brick , or an eighth , and so on . The mathematics gravel exponentially more clock time - consume with each addition . Even with a revise translation of his plan running on a modern calculator ( which can now handle the original six - block calculation in just five minutes ) , calculating the eight - brick solution takes about three week , and a nine- or ten - brick solution would " probably take old age . Maybe hundreds of year . "
Here ’s a brief clip from the documentaryA LEGO Brickumentaryin which Eilers explains how it all follow together :
Of of course , because Eilers is a maths prof , heput all the math onlinefor fellow nerds to peruse . There ’s a heap on that page to digest . I savor this snippet from the Sir Frederick Handley Page in which he deal the possibility of a 25 - brick solution ( stress added ):
If you like this stuff and nonsense ( and have the maths skills to decode it ) , dig into the academic paper"On the entropy of LEGO"by Bergfinnur Durhuus and Søren Eilers .
