Definition:Perfect Magic Cube/Historical Note

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Historical Note on Perfect Magic Cube

The first perfect magic cube to be found appears to be the order $7$ one as reported by Andrew Hollingworth Frost in The Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics in $1866$.

The next one was the order $8$ one discovered by Gustavus Frankenstein, as reported in The Cincinnati Commercial in $1875$.

David Wells reports in his Curious and Interesting Numbers, 2nd ed. of $1997$ that the first to be published was in $1905$, but it is clear that more recent research supersedes his information.

This appears to be a misprint for the one of order $9$ discovered by Charles Planck, and published by him in his The Theory of Path Nasiks of $1905$.

He also reports, accurately for the time, that it was not known whether or not there exist perfect magic cubes whose order is $5$ or $6$.

However, since $1997$ an example of each has been found.


Sources