NationStates Jolt Archive

You've all seen one. You all have probably been frustrated by one. Now to find out how many of you can solve the cube. I am talking without help from the Internet, or some random series of events. Can you do it?

It is really easy.

Step one: Remove the stickers.

Step two: Put the stickers back on with all the colors together on each side.

QED.

.... these kids today don't have no imagination .. .... ;)

It is really easy.

Step one: Remove the stickers.

Step two: Put the stickers back on with all the colors together on each side.

QED.

.... these kids today don't have no imagination .. .... ;)
That's what I did. I figgured it out when I was like 9.

It is really easy.

Step one: Remove the stickers.

Step two: Put the stickers back on with all the colors together on each side.

QED.

.... these kids today don't have no imagination .. .... ;)

Bah! Cheater....

it also depends on how much you shifted it around ;)

It is really easy.

Step one: Remove the stickers.

Step two: Put the stickers back on with all the colors together on each side.

QED.

.... these kids today don't have no imagination .. .... ;)

Horrible. :P That only messes up the cube and makes it unsolveable. I'm talking about no cheating, and actually solving the cube. I can do it in under three minutes, but haven't been trying for a faster time yet.

It also depends on which cube you're talking of. There are varying degrees of difficulty.

3 power (http://www.handpuzzles.com/images/250_rubick_cube.gif) cubes pose a bit of a challenge, but can be easily overcome.

4 power (http://www.handpuzzles.com/images/big_rubiks_revenge.gif) cubes are considerably harder yet, I have yet to finish one.

5 power (http://www.handpuzzles.com/images/big_rubiks_professor.gif) cubes should be reserved for the mathematical genius - evil.

:)

It also depends on which cube you're talking of. There are varying degrees of difficulty.

3 power (http://www.handpuzzles.com/images/250_rubick_cube.gif) cubes pose a bit of a challenge, but can be easily overcome.

4 power (http://www.handpuzzles.com/images/big_rubiks_revenge.gif) cubes are considerably harder yet, I have yet to finish one.

5 power (http://www.handpuzzles.com/images/big_rubiks_professor.gif) cubes should be reserved for the mathematical genius - evil.

:)


I can do the 3 and 4 -the 3 is easy as there are a number of set moves (I figured it out :) ) The 4 is actually not as hard as you might expect - similar moves, similar concept.

I had not seen the 5 though - drool.....

I can do the 3 and 4 -the 3 is easy as there are a number of set moves (I figured it out :) ) The 4 is actually not as hard as you might expect - similar moves, similar concept.

I had not seen the 5 though - drool.....
Well, I admit - I haven't spent a lot of time on a 4 power - but I do find the 3 power quite simple. I borrowed a friends quad at a party and thought it might be a cool little thing to play with. Three hours later I practically had an aneurism, perhaps its not a very good drinking game though. Besides, usually parties are a little more exciting than would require you to spend an evening having brain farts about a rubix! :p

The 5 power though... yeeeaaaaahhhh... it just looks so... evil.

I want one! :D

I'm terrible when I try to solve the Rubik's cube but I have a friend who solves it in a single minute.

yeah. there is a science to it. think diagonally, corner to corner.

i probably could do it, given a few years :D
i have problems with mathematical patterns - makes it very hard :(

It is really easy.

Step one: Remove the stickers.

Step two: Put the stickers back on with all the colors together on each side.

QED.

.... these kids today don't have no imagination .. .... ;)

I found the sledgehammer to be a much more satisfying solution.

Taking the stickers off is too messy and makes the corners turn up. Breaking it apart and putting it back together was a much better solution.

Well, I admit - I haven't spent a lot of time on a 4 power - but I do find the 3 power quite simple. I borrowed a friends quad at a party and thought it might be a cool little thing to play with. Three hours later I practically had an aneurism, perhaps its not a very good drinking game though. Besides, usually parties are a little more exciting than would require you to spend an evening having brain farts about a rubix! :p

The 5 power though... yeeeaaaaahhhh... it just looks so... evil.

I want one! :D

IN answer to the original question, I can solve a 3 easily (though not supersonically). I can't actualyl get the hang of flipping edge pieces when on the final slice, so I make sure they're already in the right orientation by pre-swapping them with (possibly even correct) 2nd-slice edges (and returning them the right way round, often even in the right position round the edge) when I'm at that stage, and the methods I do use to swap the corners and edges and rotate the corners on the final slice mercifully leave them well enough alone in that regard.

As for solving 4/5-edged versions, I've never had my hands on them, but shirley it's quite easy...

Given that you look at each face on a 3x3x3 cube as having 9 squares:

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

Then you can look at the 4x4x4 cube as having 9 squares in several different ways:

A:
1 2 2 3
4 5 5 6
4 5 5 6
7 8 8 9

B:
1 2 3 3
4 5 6 6
4 5 6 6
7 8 9 9

C:
1 2 3 3
4 5 6 6
7 8 9 9
7 8 9 9

"A" is the pattern I would try to get before proceeding to solve it as if a 3x3x3
"B" is the way I'd shift two centres or one edge next to two similaralry coloured centres or one similarly coloured edges in preparation for working with the "A" pattern, it leaves two edge-pairs intact
"C" is the way I'd shift a single centre into a three-centre pattern, but it affects all edges.

(There are three other versions of "B" and "C", of course...)

So what you need to do is treat it with patterns C and B movements to get a point where pattern A (and solvability) seems obvious... Unfortunately, I'm not sure if there's problems with having two edges the wrong way round without the colours being wrong, I'd have to think about that.

Of course, in a 5x5x5 there's two possible 'A'-type bases (1-block 3-block 1-block along each side and 2-block 1-block 2-block along a side) and... a few different ways of look at each side in a B, C, etc fashion... I think there's 36 different patterns (A...H?) a side can be look at, and that means 46656 different ways to 'handle' the cube, though once you've got it into one of the 'A' patterns it should be easy. Prior caveat (reversibility of pieces) also applies, though... ;)

no, thenb again I am slightly pissed...

They should make 2-power rubiks cubes.

:snip:
uh... what? J'ai très confusé! (that's what a friend of mine would say in french class when she didn't understand a single word. Kinda like me now.) :(

<snip>
I think I understood that - next time I pick up a quad I won't be drinking though - spending three hours on something like that is obscene. I pretty much have the 3^ nailed - so applying that principle, I should be able to master it if I give it even the slightest modicum of thought. Thanks for the tips! :)

Yes, but I suck ass at Tetris. Me=Worst player ever.

They should make 2-power rubiks cubes.

I believe they do. I recall seeing one somewhere before. As for the 4 and 5 power cubes, I'd really like to get my hands on one.

I believe they do. I recall seeing one somewhere before. As for the 4 and 5 power cubes, I'd really like to get my hands on one.
Yep, they sure do - they usually come as key-chains. Little novelty items for us mathematically inclined dorks out there! haha! :p

I can do 3s and 4s, or the Rubik's Cube and the Rubik's Revenge.

My friend can do the 5s, or the Rubik's Professors, as they're called. I have yet to get my hands on a Professor long enough to figure it out, as I've only played with his a little bit.

We both started Rubik's Cube clubs at our respective colleges =)

Good times, good times..

And for you cheaters out there, if you're doing a 3x3x3, it's actually easier to take it apart, and put it back together complete, than it is to take all the stickers off, and put them back on.

What you do is you just twist the top layer 1/8th of a turn. (so that you've got a corner lined up with the middle of the layer below it) Then, you slide your thumb under one of the non-corner side pieces on the top layer, and just lift up. It should pop out, and the rest should be pretty self-explanatory. Plus then you can see how they work, and that's just cool to know.

Though I think the ripoffs of the rubik's cubes have a different mechanism, and you can kill them by doing that, so make sure your center white sticker has the "Rubik's" logo on it, before trying this. I've only ever had the real thing, so I don't know for sure, though.