Stupidity in Cube (1997)

Hello Sup Forums, autist here. I re-watched the old sci-fi movie cube recently, and noticed some stupidity in a stupid-yet-fun movie. Let's talk about the (math in the) movie!

alright you first

You're the one bringing it up moron!
SAY IT!

Sounded like you were gonna start desu

As most of you are aware, in Cube, a small group of people inexplicably wake up in a series of cube-like rooms, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They are therefore obliged to escape, but as they learn very quickly, some of the rooms contain lethal booby traps. Now we've got a movie. Naturally, trust deteriorates in the group and everything goes to hell.

Anyway, the hatches between rooms are marked with numbers, which give important information about the rooms. Three three-digit numbers (all in base ten) are associated with each room. They look like this:

010 061 842

Not only do they give coordinate information about the rooms (it turns out that the rooms actually /move around/ in a larger (also cubic) structure), but more to the point of this autistic thread, the numbers also tell you whether a room has a trap or not. This is where there's a stupid detail that I'll drill in on.

One of the more useful members of the group is a female math student named Leaven who figures out most of the above math-memes in the movie. Specifically, she correctly deduces that if any one of a room's three numbers is a prime number (divisible only by one or itself), then that room contains a trap. For example, 61 is a prime number, and therefore the above sequence indicates a room with a fatal booby trap of some kind.

In fact, Leaven is quite good at figuring out off the top of her head whether a number is prime or not. Using this talent, they move safely through the cubic rooms until Leaven's system fails - a room where none of the numbers is prime nevertheless has a trap.

Now, let's think a moment. Actually figuring out off the top of your head whether a three-digit number is prime or not is a rather complex mental task, especially if you don't have a calculator handy. Putting this together with the coordinate stuff which is revealed in the middle of the movie, the Leaven character is set up to be quite bright. This is what doesn't jive with what comes later.

Now, for those of us who have the benefit of a computer, we can quickly run a few numbers. There is a prime counting function π(n) (where π in this case has nothing to do with its common usage regarding circles, it's just a letter representing "p" for prime) which tells us the number of prime numbers less than or equal to some particular positive integer n. Specifically, since the above task is concerned with determining whether (up to) three-digit numbers are prime or not, we'd like to know how many primes there are. That is, π(1000) = π(999) = 168. This is the fancy way of saying that there are 168 prime numbers under 1000, or more specifically, ranging from "000" through "999".

Okay, fine, 168 prime numbers, and every single time there is one, there's a trap. What else? We just said that Leaven's system fails at one point. This is where the movie goes full retard.

Turns out the retard knows math and its some other shit. Dr McKay gets emo, there's a chimpout and only one of them gets out alive.

the end

In about the last 15 minutes of the movie, Leaven has the epiphany that numbers which are also (positive whole-number) /powers/ of primes are /also/ indicative of traps. It is /these/ numbers, together with the primes themselves (which of course are just a prime power, where the power is one), which completely classify traps.

But then a (admittedly very tired and fried) Leaven whines that in order to figure out /these/ numbers is next-to-impossible without a computer. She goes on to whine that it's "impossible", "astronomical". This is where the full autist Kazan reveals his skill of determining these numbers, saving the day. And all this is what's stupid, when you think about it.

Leaven can do primes in her head, no problem. But all of a sudden, she can't figure out whether a /three/ digit number is a power of a prime, or not? I call bullshit. It can be a bit hard to see when you're actually watching the movie in-sequence, but all that needs to happen is to check the three-digit numbers, again. You don't have to check some nine-digit number in your head. The trick is that you have to do this three-times-over per room. But now let's think a moment.

So there were traps with prime numbers, what else?
I've watched the movie like 10 years ago...

The amount of trial and error involved is /obviously/ minimal, and we have merely to compile a small table of numbers. A sensible approach is to establish an upper bound for which no natural power higher than 1 of a prime will produce a number less than 1000, and work backwards. Consider that the square root of 1000 is in the low thirties somewhere (we don't care exactly where). Furthermore, 37^2 = 1369, while 31^2 = 961. We therefore easily establish that 31, is the largest prime for which a power greater than 1 is yet less than 1000. The problem reduces to raising the first 11 primes to powers until they exceed 1000, and discarding those last results. Furthermore 2, the smallest prime, when raised to the tenth power produces 1024, which just exceeds 1000 - the point being that 9 is the largest exponent that we need consider, in any event. We establish another upper bound to make our work easier.

The practical upshot is that there are exactly 25 composite numbers which are integer powers of primes being less than 1000. Therfore, the final answer to our original question is 168+25 = 193.

As we've just seen, despite Leaven's complaints, a few elementary observations cut the work down to size in very short order, and in fact the number of composite powers of primes is much smaller than the number of primes. For some reason, the autistic savant Kazan is needed to discover these numbers. The point being that it is absurd that Leaven, who is competent with a fairly complex mental task, is yet unable to make simple observations to attack what turns out to be, in a sense, a much simpler mental task.

It turns out that Leaven is the one who really "sucks at math". I could write the above in blood on my arm if my life depended on it.

This has been my autistic observation about "Cube". Thx for players

It was interesting user, but....

It's a life and death situation. You don't have time to really stay calm and thing straight.

Meant to attach this, bleah. This is the other set of numbers. I think they find "004" in a room at some point. and IIRC if you listen closely to the dialogue as they race for the exit, some of these other numbers are correctly implicated.

This is a fair point, and I did admit that Leaven (and everyone else) were quite tired and rekt toward the end.

I still call bullshit. Any mathematically inclined person who can do three digit primes in their head, and hasn't sufferered brain damage, is smart enough to figure out powers of primes using the few observations I've made. Especially once they've realized (as they should) that it's a very small additional set of numbers. That's my point.

Also nice 23^2 digits, friendo. :^y

Ah, I see now.

Isn't there like 2 other Cube movies too.

Your writing style is taxing to read. Please never write again.

good posts user, this actually occured to me at the time but i just turned my brain off and enjoyed the movie

dont listen to this faggot OP, you write fine

>doesn't know how to use commas
>thinks he's any kind of authority on writing
inb4 some childish Sup Forums-tier nonsense about trips

Figuring the prime numbers is a piece of piss even for a high-schooler, now detecting the right sequence, using the coordinates and timing that sequence is a bigger task, also easy enough for a proficient highschooler. Leaven probably went to community college and fucked her way to pass exams.

A certain, precise sort of detail is necessary to give the context of the kino, make a rhetorical point, and do a little math all at once (even very simple math). If a brainlet's head hurts when he's done reading, it's not a concern.

Wow, man, please, be more, nice ok.

Wrangle your autism; this is why some people call for a cull of your kind.

>still can't master something as simple as a comma
sad

>please cater to my simple mind

>math
too intelligent didn't read

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It has nothing to do with being simple or complex. Some writing flows nicely and is enjoyable to read, while some doesn't and isn't.

The writing is fucking fine for Sup Forums bro. Holy fuck this is a thread about math and you're the most autistic thing in it.

>fine for Sup Forums
then why does it read like a screencapped reddit post?

The divide between smarties and dumbies on Sup Forums is quite wide. You would think that the intelligent people on all the boards would just choose one board to inhabit, but no. A board without shitposting would probably die, anyway.

>bathroom math while having a wank, too stupid not to take a shit and fap at the same time while you read it

You can be smart without being an autistic math nerd with no grasp of how to make text engaging to the reader.

Did they ever figure out the sequence of safe rooms to the bridge?

You're a moron.

I just guffawed. This user can't seem to get a grip.

Yeah, well, you know, that's just like, your opinion, man.

>like,like,like
Shut UP!!

>on Sup Forums
>doesn't recognize a quote from a coen brothers movie
pathetic

There's nothing wrong with my prose. As you get older and read different things, you may figure this out.

Now, if a person /doesn't give a shit/ about what I just wrote about, then that's a different matter. But it doesn't go to the quality of the prose itself, which is perfectly fine, as multiple people who are not me have pointed out.

>/doesn't give a shit/
What's your name on reddit?

This reminds me of /lit/, believing you are intelligent and backing up your claim by calling others dumb.

You mean like these guys did?

You'll reject this because it doesn't fit your frame, but in fact I've spent less than two hours of my life browsing reddit, and only out of curiosity in the brief moments when I get sorta board with the chans. I haven't made an account at that site.

I remember not liking the interface, but I already had a poisoned (accurate?) view of the site, because I only ever hear about it here.

No, those other guys didn't really imply they were intelligent. They implied that the OP was. You just have a smug communication style that reminds me of /lit/.

Just come out with it, you're from /lit/.

You'd fit right in, faggot.

I'm calculating powers of primes and beating my meat right now, wtf you talking about?!

Nope. Started on Sup Forums, stopped going around 2009, now I post pretty much exclusively on Sup Forums, Sup Forums, and /ck/. /lit/ seems like one of those places like Sup Forums that's too up its own ass and obsessed with liking the "right things" to be tolerable.

That is accurate, user.

>doesn't even argue the point
>I-I can reverse-no-true-scotsman my way out of this

kek

Try Cube Zero sometime, folks. It's bad, but still entertaining, and has a fun villain. Hypercube is the worst of the bunch.

>muh fallacies
kek

Also, Cube Zero wasn't a bad film. Not as good as Cube, but still not bad.

>
>>>old

bad

not bad

>i just turned my brain off
But if you did that, wouldn't you just die? Don't we need our brains to do basic functions like breathing and our hearts pumping? And by the way, how can you even do this voluntarily?

I'm sorry, I just don't buy it.

bad enough

trying way too hard there, champ

not amusing
good enough

This is why Cube 2: Hypercube is better.

>your mother sucks cocks in hell

No, she sucks cock in Tampa.

ASTRO-

OP, post this on /sci/, theyll love it

Hi OP thanks for the interesting observation but as already pointed out you can excuse this with the stress they were through.

Jesus...

No, she won't see Mexicans. She's high class.

I already did, nobody cared. :^)

>nobody cared.
Because it's STUPID!

>I still call bullshit. Any mathematically inclined person who can do three digit primes in their head, and hasn't sufferered brain damage, is smart enough to figure out powers of primes using the few observations I've made.

How can you substantiate this, very broad, statement?

----------------------

Because the latter task (in its range) turns out to be much simpler, and concerns a much smaller group of information. Not only that, but you can directly calculate all of them, and quickly reason that you know all of them, as long as you know anything at all about prime numbers.

We're not talking about /all/ (composite) powers of primes, just the ones that happen to be less than 1,000. And there's only 25 of them.

...

>/all/
Why do you keep doing this?

At least I had a laugh writing it

A congenital idiot has a laugh throwing his own shit; that does not validate the activity.

It is easy to figure out if a 3 digit number is prime or not.
Except for 2, a number ending in 2 is not prime.
A number ending in 0, 4, 6, 8 is not prime.
If the sum of a number's digits is divisible by 3 or 9, it is not prime.
If the alienating sum of a number's digits is divisible by 11, it is not prime.
If the last two digits of a number are divisible by 4, then a number is not prime.
If the last three digits of a number are divisible by 8, it is not prime.
Except for 5, a number ending in 5 is not prime.
A number divisible by both 2 and 3 is divisible by 6, and therefore not prime.
That only leaves 7. There's a trick for doing 7 which I can't remember.

She discovered that only numbers which are powers of primes are trapped.

Figuring out if a number is a power of a prime is more computationally intensive than determining if a number is prime. Granted, this is no astronomical feat - the largest prime you'd have to check is 31 because 31*31 = 961.

Her not being able to do the prime power computations easily (no paper, having had no food or water for days) gives Kazan a reason for being in the cube.

Basically you're a huge retard and you don't know anything.

You also didn't address how the permutations of the cube work based on the numbers in the doors... and yes, I know how these work as well.

The numbers shown were reused since they had a limited supply. Don't assume that just because they show numbers that they are the correct ones.

DESU your criticisms aren't very well founded. She can calculate if a number is prime (which is easy, mindless almost) but calculating powers is something that I find harder than just testing primality.

he is roleplaying the will of misaka end/

This is why cube zero sucks. No one gets out alive.

What is that? Some kind of wapanese nonsense?

I don't think your reasoning works. Even if X and Y are comparable pieces of information, it does not follow that because someone knows X they must know Y.

I've seen mathematics professors, people who have dedicated their entire life to the field, make simple mistakes. This is not because they are stupid, but because they are human beings and are liable to make errors. And keep in mind that they make mistakes in low-stakes situations. You've been ignoring the fact that human beings are much more absent-minded in situations that are more stressful and unfamiliar. Based on this, I don't think you've shown that this "stupidity" in Cube is in any way implausible.

On a side note: Why are people so obsessed with finding "errors" in films, as if they somehow diminish their quality. Great pieces of art are often filled with anachronisms and factual errors, yet they remain beautiful.

I disagree. me no math good, this movie smart

blown the FUCK OUT


based egghead

This is all very nice but the alleged simplicity/complexity of a task in this case really does hinge on the upper bound (999/1000) in this case.

My central criticism of this one point of the movie (your bringing up the other bits is immaterial, as I'd immediately confined myself to the one point) is solid. It is telling in your thing that you never refer to the range which is in play, a very important piece of information.

You're of course right that in the story, Kazan's purpose is to factor these numbers. But this misses the point that this one detail of the story is bogus. Your argumentative point here basically amounts to "because that's how the movie is", which adds nothing new. That you know permutations is very good.

and before you bother, let me add... except in the one place where you repeat a piece of information that I'd already given.

Yes but what about the correct sequence of the rooms in order to get out the fastest?
Could you prove that every room would be the gate and what's the largest time to be the gate and to get out?

very cool post, opie.

however i still agree with the other poster who said it's perfectly plausible that her mind probably just crapped out after climbing through one too many cubes, and seeing one too many persons die before her eyes. that montage scene implied she'd been mathing it up for hours right?

it makes me think of all the late nights playing a video game getting stuck and giving up for the night. only to find the next morning that the puzzle I was stuck on was stupidly easy, my mind was simply too fatigued to realize it. and that's in the comfort of my own home!

i know you want it to match your perspective, but I think you ought to let this one go :)
again, very cool post. thanks for contributing something interesting to this board.

my only complaint about cube is that the ones who get trapped in the cube are criminals, but not just that, it's also that they do a complete mind wipe of them before they enter negating the whole punishment aspect of the cube, because you can't punish someone unless they know what they are being punished for

They aren't all criminals.

none of them are criminals because they have no memory of ever committing a crime