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''We turn the Cube and
it twists us.''
- Erno Rubik
last updated February 26th, 2004 and is permanently
(7 Cauac (Rain) / 7 K'ayab (Turtle) 69/260 - 220.127.116.11.19)
enigma: enigma, mystery, puzzle, Chinese puzzle, Rubik's cube
Rubik's Cube is a mechanical puzzle invented by the Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Erno Rubik in 1974. It has been estimated that over 100,000,000 Rubik's Cubes or imitations have been sold worldwide.
The Rubik's Cube reached its height of popularity during the early 1980s. Many similar puzzles were released shortly after the Rubik's Cube, both from Rubik himself and from other sources, including the Rubik's Revenge, a 4 x 4 x 4 version of the Rubik's Cube. There are also 2 x 2 x 2 and 5 x 5 x 5 cubes (known as the Pocket Cube and the Professor's Cube, respectively), and puzzles in other shapes, such as the Pyraminx, a tetrahedron.
A Rubik's Cube is a cubic block with its surface subdivided so that each face consists of nine squares. Each face can be rotated, giving the appearance of an entire slice of the block rotating upon itself. This gives the impression that the cube is made up of 27 smaller cubes (3 x 3 x 3). In its original state each side of the Rubik's Cube is a different color, but the rotation of each face allows the smaller cubes to be rearranged in many different ways.
The challenge is to be able to return the Cube to its original state from any position.
A standard cube measures approximately 2 1/8 inches (5.4 cm) on each side. The puzzle consists of the 26 unique miniature cubes ("cubies") on the surface. However, the centre cube of each face is merely a single square facade; all six are affixed to the core mechanisms. These provide structure for the other pieces to fit into and turn around. So there are 21 pieces: a single core, of three intersecting axes holding the six centre squares in place but letting them rotate, and 20 smaller plastic pieces which fit into it to form a cube. The cube can be taken apart without much difficulty, typically by prying an "edge cubie" away from a "center cubie" until it dislodges. It is a simple process to "solve" a cube in this manner, by reassembling the cube in a solved state; however, this is not the challenge.
There are 12 edge pieces which show two colored sides each, and 8 corner pieces which show three colours. Each piece shows a unique colour combination, but not all combinations are realized (For example, there is no edge piece showing both white and yellow, if white and yellow are on opposite sides of the solved cube). The location of these cubies relative to one another can be altered by twisting an outer third of the cube 90 degrees, 180 degrees or 270 degrees; but the location of the coloured sides relative to one another in the completed state of the puzzle cannot be altered: it is fixed by the relative positions of the centre squares and the distribution of colour combinations on edge and corner pieces. The colors of the stickers are traditionally red opposite orange, yellow opposite white, and green opposite blue.
Countless general solutions for the Rubik's Cube have been discovered independently. Solutions typically consist of a sequence of processes. A process is a series of cube twists which accomplishes a well-defined goal. For instance, one process might switch the locations of three corner pieces, while leaving the rest of the pieces in their places. These sequences are performed in the appropriate order to solve the cube. Also a lot of research has been done on the topic of Optimal solutions for Rubik's Cube.
Patrick Bossert, a 12 year-old schoolboy from Britain, published his own solution in a book called You Can do The Cube. The book sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide in 17 editions and became the number one book on both The Times and the New York Times bestseller lists for 1981.
A Rubik's Cube can have (8! × 38-1) × (12! × 212-1)/2 = 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 different positions (~4.3 × 1019), about 43 quintillion, but it is advertised only as having "billions" of positions, due to the general incomprehensibility of that number. Despite the vast number of positions, all cubes can be solved in 29 moves or fewer.
Many competitions have been held to determine who can solve the Rubik's Cube in the shortest amount of time. The first world championship was held on 5 June 1982 in Budapest and was won by Minh Thai, a Vietnamese student from Los Angeles with a time of 22.95 seconds. The official world record of 20.02 seconds was set on August 24th 2003 in Toronto by Dan Knights, a San Francisco software developer. This record is recognized by the trademark holders of "Rubik's Cube" as well as by the Guinness Book of Records.
Many individuals have recorded shorter times, but these records are not recognized due to lack of compliance with agreed-upon standards for timing and competing.
Parallel with particle physics
A parallel between Rubik's Cube and particle physics was noted by mathematician Solomon W. Golomb, and then extended (and modified) by Anthony E. Durham. Essentially, clockwise and counterclockwise "twists" of corner cubies may be compared to the electric charges of quarks (+2/3 and -1/3) and antiquarks (-2/3 and +1/3). Feasible combinations of cubie twists are paralleled by allowable combinations of quarks and antiquarks—both cubie twist and the quark/antiquark charge must total to an integer. Combinations of two or three twisted corners may be compared to various hadrons.
A greater challenge
Most Rubik's Cubes are sold without any markings on the center faces. This obscures the fact that the center faces can rotate independently. If you have a marker pen, you could, for example, mark the central squares of unshuffled cube with four colored marks on each edge, each corresponding to the color of the adjacent square. You might be surprised to find you could scramble and then unscramble the cube but still leave the markings rotated. Putting markings on the Rubik's cube is a good way of increasing the challenge of solving the cube, not to mention enlarge the symmetry group.
* Handbook of Cubik Math by Alexander H. Frey, Jr.
and David Singmaster
* Notes on Rubik's 'Magic Cube' ISBN 0-89490-043-9 by David Singmaster
* Metamagical Themas by Douglas R. Hofstadter contains two insightful chapters regarding Rubik's Cube and similar puzzles, originally published as articles in the March 1981 and July 1982 issues of Scientific American.
* Four-Axis Puzzles by Anthony E. Durham.
my personal best time: 58 seconds. of course, i read a book to do it. they had many contests in the early eighties, and i think the world record holder got it in like 15 seconds. i had its many variants during the height of the craze: Pyraminx, The Barrel, Rubik's Revenge, etc... - @Om* 2/2/01
|largest stationary solvable Rubik's Cube in Univesity of Michigan|
|before completion||2nd floor, southwest corner of GG Brown Building, Department of Mechanical Engineering|
|Marcin Czubala - _Session_
first mention of Rubik's Cube on Usenet:
Subject: 2x2x2 Rubik's Cube
Date: 1981-09-06 01:27:13 PST
The 2x2x2 Rubik's Cube is
eleven deep! Details follow.