• Newsfeed
  • society

The Number of Ways You Can Put Together 6 LEGO Bricks Will Astound You

1 minute read

With the Danish documentary on LEGO, A LEGO Brickumentary, premiering in U.S. theaters, iTunes, and OnDemand Friday, the gaming news website Kotaku posted a clip from the film profiling the math professor who became famous for calculating that there are 915,103,765 ways to combine six, eight-stud LEGO bricks.

Inspired by a LEGOLAND display that seemed to lowball the number at 103 million, Søren Eilers from the University of Copenhagen created a computer program that now drums up that figure in 5 minutes. Why was LEGO’s estimate off? Eilers says it’s because it only counted the ways bricks could be stacked on top of each other in tower formations, not accounting how low, wide structures can be put together.

To figure out how many ways seven bricks can be combined, it took Eilers two hours. Eight bricks? Nearly 21 days (20.83 to be exact). Nine? Ten? That would take years, hundreds of years, he says, so something to think about if you have some free time this summer.

See Celebrities and Their Lego Figures

celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Chris Pratt: Owen GradyUniversal; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Chris Pratt: Star LordDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Zoe Saldana: GamoraDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Dave Bautista: DraxDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Robert Downey Jr.: Iron ManDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Chris Evans: Captain AmericaDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Chris Hemsworth: ThorDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Scarlett Johansson: Black WidowDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Jeremy Renner: HawkeyeDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Mark Ruffalo: HulkDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Paul Bettany: VisionDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Elizabeth Olsen: Scarlet WitchDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Aaron Taylor-Johnson: QuicksilverDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Cobie Smulders: Agent Maria HillDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Tom Hiddleston: LokiDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Samuel L. Jackson: Nick FuryDisney/Marvel; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Samuel L. Jackson: Mace WinduLucasfilm/Disney; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Mark Hamill: Luke SkywalkerLucasfilm/Disney; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Harrison Ford: Han SoloLucasfilm/Disney; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Harrison Ford: Indiana JonesParamount; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Carrie Fisher: Leia OrganaLucasfilm/Disney; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Billy Dee Williams: Lando CalrissianLucasfilm/Disney; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Christopher Lee: Count DookuLucasfilm/Disney; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Christopher Lee: SarumanNew Line Cinema; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Sir Ian Mckellen: Gandalf the GreyNew Line Cinema; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Elijah Wood: Frodo BagginsNew Line Cinema; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Sean Astin: Samwise GamgeeNew Line Cinema; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Viggo Mortensen: AragornNew Line Cinema; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Orlando Bloom: LegolasNew Line Cinema; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
John Rhys-Davies: GimliNew Line Cinema; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Hugo Weaving: ElrondNew Line Cinema; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Daniel Radcliffe: Harry PotterWarner Bros.; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Emma Watson: Hermione GrangerWarner Bros.; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Rupert Grint: Ron WeasleyWarner Bros.; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Alan Rickman: Professor SnapeWarner Bros.; Lego
celebrities, lego, jurassic world, avengers, marvel, chris pratt, chris evans, robert downey jr., scarlett johansson
Helena Bonham Carter: Bellatrix LestrangeWarner Bros.; Lego

 

More Must-Reads from TIME

Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com