Novel required properties of, and efficient algorithms to seek, perfect cuboids

Abstract: We present a novel approach to the age-old question of whether perfect cuboids exist. Our approach consists of two new computer search algorithms, arising from the analysis of "perfect plinths" reported by one of us recently, that are much more efficient than any prior algorithm of which we are aware. Using this approach, we also (i) identify some new two-parameter families of edge cuboids, and (ii) show that large proportions of aspect ratios of faces or internal rectangles cannot be present in a perfect cuboid, a property that was previously reported only for faces with the aspect ratio 4:3.