About

How Many Cubes Are On The Trailer? refers to a viral math problem showing three angles of a trailer holding stacks of orange cubes, asking viewers to surmise how many are on the trailer. In late February 2024, the post led to a viral debate online, as with the information given, many users deduced the answer to be "51" but some argued there was not enough information given to make a proper guess since you can't see all of the angles.

Origin

On February 20th, 2024, Twitter / X user @Rainmaker973^[1] posted a math puzzle asking users to deduce how many cubes are on a trailer. There are three angles of the trailer: a back-side view that shows the cubes are stacked three across and three high; a side-angle view that shows the cubes are in rows of 7, 6 and 4, and a top-angle view that seems to show there are no gaps in any row (shown below). The post gained over 1,900 retweets, 5,700 likes and 4,100 responses in one day.

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With the information provided, several users guessed that the answer was "51," following the formula (3×7) + (3×6) + (3×4).^[2][3] However, some users argued there was not enough information given by the equation, and that 51 can only be the answer if we assume every row is filled with three cubes. Some posted illustrations demonstrating how there could be fewer than 51 cubes in the puzzle.

On February 20th, 2024, user @ImDagre4^[4] posted an illustration demonstrating how there could be fewer than 51 cubes in the puzzle, gaining 20 likes in one day (shown below, left). The same day, user @poppinbuckets^[5] also posted an illustration demonstrating the possible minimum number of cubes, gaining over 270 likes in one day (shown below, right).

However, the debate around the cubes led to some criticism of and memes about the "not enough information" crowd. Also on February 20th, user @memeticsisyphus^[6] offered an anecdote about new hires who were unable to make obvious assumptions like the one presented in the puzzle were unable to complete tasks, gaining over 360 retweets and 3,900 likes in one day (shown below, left). User @YoungMOOBY^[7] posted a Midwit meme to joke about the discourse, gaining over 140 likes in one day (shown below, right).

On February 20th, 2024, Twitter^[8] user @Risichad posted a 3D-animated depiction of the possible arrangement of the cubes from all angles, receiving nearly 14,000 views and 200 likes in over a day (seen below).

Intuition vs thinking😏 pic.twitter.com/wLyzN1Gfa9

— Risichad 🦾 (@Risichad) February 20, 2024

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References