Cube this problem, and in 1837 Pierre Wantzel proved it to be impossible because the cube root of 2 is not a constructible number. The cube has three uniform colorings, named by the colors of the square faces around each vertex: 111, 112, 123. The cube has three classes of symmetry, which can be represented by vertex-transitive coloring the faces. The highest octahedral symmetry O has all the faces the same color. The dihedral symmetry D comes from the cube being a prism, with all four sides being the same color. The lowest symmetry D is also a prismatic symmetry, with
Doubling the cube was the discovery by Hippocrates of Chios that it is equivalent to finding two mean proportionals between a line segment and another with twice the length. In modern notation, this means that given segments of lengths and , the duplication of the cube is equivalent to finding segments of lengths and so that In turn, this means that But Pierre Wantzel proved in 1837 that the cube root of 2 is not constructible; that is, it cannot be constructed with straightedge and compass. Menaechmus' original solution involves the intersection of two conic curves. Other more complicated methods of doubling the