Online Rubik's Cube

That cube sure has a lot of white sides!

For a total mind bend, draw arrows on each face. You may well get all the colours right on each side, but getting the arrows restored is something else. Not checked, but the stats for a 'normal/ Rubik Cube are amazing. Add on the complition of each individual faccet, and it's beyond Star Wars. The permutations are insane.

"The number of Rubik's Cube permutations can be expressed through the equation , There are exactly43,252,003,274,489,856,000 permutations, which is approximately forty-threequintillion. The puzzle is often advertised as having only "billions" of positions, as the larger numbers could be regarded as incomprehensible to many. To put this into perspective, if every permutation of a 57-millimeter Rubik's Cube were lined up end to end, it would stretch out approximately 261 light years. Alternatively, if laid out on the ground, this is enough to cover the earth with 273 layers of cubes, recognizing the fact that the radius of the earth sphere increases by 57 mm with each layer of cubes."
Ref: http://www.cracked.com/funny-3086-rubiks-cube/

A well deserved GA, but doesn't convention dictate that we use Eiffel Towers or Olympic swimming pools ? D'oh, grains of sand on a beach maybe ?

I'm most impressed with your work on that one, it puts lazy sods like me to shame. I'm just going down the beach, and may be some time.

Does that equation factor in that the six center squares can never change positions with the other eight blocks on a side or that they can never change their layout in reference to the other five sides center squares and that all eight corner blocks can never reorient their three visible side colors in reference to each other?

I remember when that came out. Douglas R. Hofstadter ("Gödel, Escher, Bach","Metamagical Themas") had an article or two on it, without giving away the solution. Mostly on my own, but with some help from Hofstadter's hints, I came to a method that would work in 2-3 minutes. That is far from any record, of course.

That was around 1980. One summer I was on a sockeye salmon freezing boat in the Bering Sea, where we sold to a Japanese freighter. They had a cube, but without success in solving it. One of our guys got them to throw the cube up to me, and I gave it back solved. The consternation was glorious!

(BTW, those were my "Tornado" crab-fishing days, where I got this name.)

It was around 1980 that I found a solution to solving the cube that was fairly easy to memorize, and could be done in about 30 seconds without looking at the cube. It really blew a couple of bosses minds when I picked one up off their desk, and set it back down solved without breaking eye contact with them.

Not believable without an explanation.

It was 2 or 3 printed pages of moves that would always result in the cube being solved. I didn't post a link, but Google shows 627,000 results for "solving Rubik's cube". My old copy also explained the reason it was so simple, but I haven't seen it in ages.

Baloney.

I'm not sure why you find it hard to believe. It was roughly 25 moves, and it always works. I was an Eagle Scout, and as Assistant Scout Master, I had my whole Boy Scout Troup solving it in under a minute. I Googled "quickest way to solve Rubik's cube" today. There are 9330 results. Obviously they're not all made up.

Because you have to look at the cube to apply any method, even just to tell when you are finished.

It's the 1980 part of the claim that is the most outrageous.

The world record got down to 17 seconds in 1982 and didn't drop below 17 seconds until 2003.

The world blindfold record didn't drop below 2 minutes before 2009.

Did you find a link to a quick soluition ?

I gave up at the time, and purchased a solution booklet. It was something like 20 pages (albeit small), that could have been condensed to maybe 4 or 5 pages of A4. That said, I vaguelly recall some expert solver saying in just one sentance what his overall tactic was. I'm intrigues to know more, but my Rubik Cube long since went in the bin - I can't think of any local shops that still sell the dratted things.

It seems unlikely that those who can solve it quickly are remebering a lengthy strategy, but some people have an intuitive way of solving problems that they are unable to describe. By way of comparison, some (usually autistic) people can loook at a lengthy number, not seen before, and correctly state if it's prime. They cannot explain how, yet they can do so. Perhaps expert Rubik solvers are a bit the same. I suspect their brain is processing information in a way that the majority of us simply do not have. Understanding that process would be a quantum leap in problem solving.

I've heard of people solving mathematicaL wonders as "seeing it as colours". No idea what that means, but their brain has clearely developed a non-conventional ability to solve problems. Understanding that process would shatter all conventional methods of problem solving.

I can't think of any local shops that still sell the dratted things.

Have you tried ebay?

You could just cut to the chase and tell me how much you want for it .