The edges of a cube are assigned with integer values. For each vertex we look at the numbers corresponding to the three edges coming from this vertex and add them up. In case we get 8 equal results we call such cube “cute”. Are there any “cute” cubes with the following numbers corresponding to the edges:
(a) \(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12\);
(b) \(-6, -5, -4, -3, -2, -1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6\)?
The surface of a \(3\times 3\times 3\) Rubik’s Cube contains \(54\) squares. What is the maximum number of squares we can mark so that no marked squares share at least one vertex?
Make sure you show that both (a) you can achieve this maximum and (b) that you can’t do better than this maximum.