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Amanda Conlon
GAT
9A
7 January 2014
Cubeception
Have you ever had extra paper lying about and wondered what you could do with
it? If youre up for a challenge you could make a cube inside a cube! Then to further
your activity, you could find the surface areas and volumes of each cube! To accomplish
this, you must find the volume of the small, solid cube as well as the empty space in
the larger, hollow cube. To get started, record the measurements of the papers you use
to construct your cubes.This will be important when using the formulas to find your
surface areas and volumes. The papers I used were 6 inches by 6 inches. Now, you
must know that the formula for finding the volume of any cube is the base times width
times height. As for the total surface area, the most common way to find a cubes is to
find one side length squared times the number of faces, which would be 6 for a cube.
Now youre ready to embark on your cubeception journey!

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Figures 1 and 2. The Final Cube
These images show the what the final project should look like. Here you can see the
smaller cube fits in the hollow spaces in the sides of the larger cube.


Figures 3 and 4.
One of the pieces of paper used to make the cube once folded.
These images show one of the pieces of paper after they have been folded to create the
cubes. On the left is the piece for the larger cube and on the right is the piece for the
smaller cube.
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Figure 5. The 12 pieces of folded paper put together to make the outer cube.
This image shows the completed outer cube, once all 12 pieces of papers have been
slid into corresponding flaps to ultimately create a hollow cube.

Figure 6.
The 6 pieces put together to make the smaller cube.
This image shows the completed smaller, or inner cube after all the papers have been
slid into corresponding slots to make the hollow cube with solid sides.

Now that you have successfully constructed your cube within a cube, you can
now begin on finding the surface areas and volumes. As you know, the papers I used to
fold measured 6 inches by 6 inches. Beginning with surface area of the smaller cube,
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the basic formula is the side length squared times the number of faces or S^2(6) in my
case. S meaning one of the side lengths and the side length of the inner cube is 1.52.

A=S^2(6) Cube Surface Area Formula
A=(1.52)^2(6) Substitution
A=2.254(6) Simplify
A=4.5(6) Simplify
A=27 Simplify To Final Answer
This shows that the total surface area of the inner cube is 27 square inches.

Finding the surface area of the outer cube will prove to be a little more difficult
with additional steps. If you look at the images of the outer cube (Figure 5) you will see
that each face of the cube has a hollow square in the middle, the size of the smaller
cube. To get started, find the surface area of the cube as you normally would.
A=S^2(6) Surface Area Formula For A Cube
A=(32)^2(6) Substitution of Side Length Measurement
A=94(6) Simplify
A=(9)(2)(6) Simplify Root
A=18(6) Simplify
A=108 Simplify For Final Answer
This shows that the surface area of the outer cube would be 108 square inches, if not
for the hollow portion in the sides. To take this information into consideration you would
subtract the surface area of the smaller cube from the surface area of the larger cube.
A=Outer Cube Surface Area - Inner Cube Surface Area Formula for
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Accurate Surface Area of Outer Cube
A=108-27 Substitution
A=81 Simplify

It is now clear that after the proofs shown above, the surface area of the smaller
inner cube is 27 square inches and the surface area of the larger outer cube is 81
square inches.
Next, you will find the volumes of the inner cube, the outer cube and the empty
space between the inner and outer cubes. The formula for find the volume of a cube is
base times width times height. After completing surface area, we know that the length of
one side of the inner cube is 1.52 square inches.
V=B*W*H Formula For Finding Volume Of A Cube
V=1.52*1.52*1.52 Substitution of Base, Width and Height
V=3.3758 Simplify For Final Answer
This shows that the volume of the smaller, inner cube is 3.3758 square inches.
Now to find the volume of the larger, outer cube you will use the same formula of
B*W*H. The measurements of the outer cube are 32 inches.
V=B*W*H Formula For Finding Volume Of A Cube
V=32*32*32 Substitution of Base, Width, and Height Measurements
V=278 Simplify For Final Answer
This shows that the volume of the larger, outer cube is 278 cubic square inches.
To find the volume of the empty space between the inner and outer cube, its
much like finding the surface area of the outer cube. To find the volume of the empty
space, it may now seem obvious to take the volume of the outer cube and subtract the
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volume of the inner cube from it.
Empty Space=Volume of Outer Cube-Volume of Inner Cube Formula For Empty Space
Empty Space=278-3.3758 Substitution
Empty Space=23.6258 Simplify For Final Answer
This now shows that the volume of the empty space is 23.6258 cubic square inches,
the volume of the inner cube is 3.3758 cubic square inches, and the volume of the
outer cube is 278 cubic square inches.
Now you have completed your cube in a cube and you have figured out its areas
and volumes! You also no longer have extra, unused paper lying around. To conclude
this project, in my opinion, the hardest part was constructing the cubes themselves.
Origami has always been very difficult for me to grasp but I think this project has proved
that I can do it if I set my mind to it long enough. The process used in this project could
be applied to many real world situations. After high school, I want to study to become
a forensic scientist. Its very likely that when inspecting a crime scene, you may have to
find the surface area or volume of - to be a bit graphic - a victim. The volume of a
person could help solve a crime in many different scenarios. If I were to conduct this
project again, I would ask for help earlier on when constructing my cube and not waiting
until break to get help - especially when icy roads make it difficult to get together! From
this project I have gained the valuable skill of finding surface area and volumes. I feel
like this skill will be able to be applied very often down the road and Im glad to have
pushed through the struggles and completed this project.



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