From the standing wave solution to the wave equation we get the condition
We need to evaluate the number of modes which can meet this condition, which amounts to counting all the possible combinations of the integer n values. An approximation can be made by treating the number of combinations as the volume of a three-dimensional grid of the values of n, an "n-space". Using the relationship for the volume of a sphere, with the n values specifying the coordinates along three "n" axes, gives