Here is a problem that came up in a conversation with a professor. I do not know if he knew the answer (and told me none of it) and has since passed so I can no longer ask him about it.
Let $C$ be a lattice cube in $\mathbb{R}^n$. Characterize all possible volumes for $C$. A cube is called a lattice cube if and only if every vertex has integer coordinates.
I broke this proof into three cases, the last of which I am having trouble with in one direction. We will let $V(n)$ be the set of all numbers $V$ for which there exists a lattice cube of volume $V$ in dimension $n$. We will break into three cases based on the value mod 4.
\begin{align*} V(2k+1)&=\{a^n:a\in\mathbb{N}\} \\ V(4k)&=\{a^\frac{n}{2}:a\in\mathbb{N}\} \\ V(4k+2)&\supseteq\{(a^2+b^2)^\frac{n}{2}:a,b\in\mathbb{N}\} \end{align*}
These statements I have proven, and conjecture that the last one is an equality. I've been trying to use a collapsing dimension argument to show if I can make a cube of side length $s$ in $\mathbb{R}^{4k+2}$ then I can in $\mathbb{R}^{4k-2}$, at which point the theorem follows since I have proven the special case of $n=2$ (which is quite trivial - there is no way to write down a square whose volume is not of the specified form in $2$D.
The above assertions (sans my conjecture) are proven here