I guess Rubik’s cube is a cultural phenomenon by now. It came out over thirty years ago.
Like everybody else I bought one during the craze. Messed with it for a few weeks. No luck. Bought the solution book and got it about half solved. It sat on the shelf a few years and eventually tossed it in the trash. I had better things to do with my free time.
Now it seems to be the benchmark for amazing intelligence. I see news articles claiming somebody solved it in only minutes.
This poor guy spent 26 years. Imagine if that time was spent on piano, guitar or singing lessons. Heck he could have earned a BS and a Masters degree in college with all that time spent on Rubik’s cube. He’s never the less thrilled to have solved it. I guess congratulations are in order. I pity the foolish guest that innocently scrambles it up again. You better run for your life before this guy realizes it.
The latest gimmick is a robot that solves it in one second.
I solved it in the 80s, but that’s because my siblings and I rarely put them down. My only goal in life was to solve it before my step-brother. (I did)
There is an algorithm, and back in the day I had it loosely memorized. I doubt I could replicate it now if handed a cube, but it isn’t really a “smart” thing any more.
Bought the cube in the early 80s, soon after bought a book (maybe this one)which taught how to solve it. The strategy involved solving it by layers rather than by faces:
-first you solved the bottom layer, i.e. the bottom face with all of its edge cubes properly sequenced so that the bottom row of each adjoining face was solved. The book offered sequences of rotations to be applied when you needed to move specific pieces from point A to point B, but this layer was generally easy to solve without thinking too hard.
-then you solved the middle layer, i.e. getting four edge pieces moved from the top (scrambled) layer to their correct locations and orientations in the middle row of the side faces. There were specific sequences of moves for this depending on where in the top row you found the pieces, and in what orientation.
-Finally the top layer. There were sequences for flipping/moving edge pieces, and sequences for rotating/moving corner pieces.
I memorized the sequences and got pretty good at it, and with a cube that spun easy, I could typically solve it in a couple of minutes. These days I somehow still remember the moves for solving the middle layer, but not the top layer.
Several years after getting the Rubik’s Cube, I got Rubik’s Revenge, a 4x4x4 cube. I actually was able to invent a few sequences of moves for putting the 4x4 centers of each face back together, and also each pair of edge cubes, after which you could solve it like a conventional 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube.
You won’t see me messing with what may be the world’s record, a 22x22x22 cube.
in my HS days - I could solve one in under a minute - 30 secs if it was a ‘good’ cube (some move better than others, making it possible to solve faster).
Once you get the moves down to move certain bits around, it becomes much easier - then you have fun making the ‘patterns’ for display (swap out only the middle colors, etc).
I think most reasonably intelligent people (meaning it’s not a feat for some kind of amazing intelligence) can solve it in “only minutes” with a little practice and memorizing a couple cube solving algorithms. The Beginner’s Method is where to start, if you’re interested. You can even get to sub-one minute with that method.
Human speed cubers measure their solving ability in seconds. The record is 4.9 seconds on a single trial, and an average of 6.54 seconds over five trials. Cite.
hmm, they seem to have a much more precise algorithm now.
That old out of print solution book linked earlier wasn’t nearly as straightforward or easy a solution. I must have spent a month or more with that book and a cube messing with it. I was making progress but it was quite frustrating.
I’m tempted to buy another Cube and try the new method.
