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Distractions — Alea iacta est!

The Editors

Alea iacta est!

In this issue we present a small puzzle that has been typeset using a not too well known extension to PSTricks, namely pst-ob3d. The package is available from CTAN and can be found at the address http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/entries/pst-ob3d.html

The package can be used to construct images involving three-dimensional shapes. One of the pre-defined shapes is the die. Any number of dice in various orientations, sizes, etc. can be drawn easily. These dice can have rounded corners or regular pointy corners, and the colour and size of the dice as well as their attributes (dots, corners, lines, etc.) can easily be changed with optional parameters

We have created a simple puzzle using a stack of three randomly oriented dice, using the Randomfaces=true option of the PstDie command as follows:

The question is: what is the sum of the dots on the faces that are both horizontal and hidden?

The LaTeX source code is available here.

The solution is available here.


Enjoy!


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