A net is the flattened shape you get by cutting a solid's surface apart along its edges. Whether folding 6 squares arranged a certain way makes a cube or not depends entirely on how they're arranged. Try folding one yourself and find out.
The flattened shape you get from taking apart a box is called a net. A cube is surrounded by 6 squares, so its net is made of 6 squares too — but surprisingly, not just any arrangement folds into a cube.
There are hundreds of ways to join 6 squares together, but exactly 11 arrangements fold perfectly with no overlaps or gaps. The most famous one is the cross (+) shape, but zigzagging staircase shapes are among the 11 too.
Move the slider to watch a net actually fold step by step, and click through different arrangements to predict for yourself which shapes become a cube.
Move the slider to watch a net actually fold. Each face rotates up to 90° around the edge it shares with its neighbor.
There are countless ways to join 6 squares, but exactly 11 arrangements actually fold into a cube (verified by folding over 20,000 arrangements by computer). Click through all 11 below, and compare them against examples that don't work.
Look at the net and guess whether it will fold into a cube.