{"id":32045,"date":"2019-06-23T19:36:27","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T00:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=32045"},"modified":"2019-07-05T12:04:02","modified_gmt":"2019-07-05T17:04:02","slug":"learning-the-solve-the-cube","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=32045","title":{"rendered":"Learning to Solve the Cube"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

I keep a Rubik’s Cube on my desk at the office. It’s something I can fiddle with when I’m thinking. Sometimes I’ll even take it into meetings. A couple of turns here, a couple of turns there, and if I mess it up, there’s an online solution — You Can Do the Rubik’s Cube<\/a><\/em> — that I can turn to.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Solving the Rubik’s Cube was a trick I could never master<\/a>. I think I was in fourth or fifth grade (so, 1982-ish) when Rubik’s Cubes were huge<\/em>, and the thing I wanted most in the world one Christmas was a solution book for the cube.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Santa Claus, sadly, was not forthcoming.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Once I read You Can Do the Rubik’s Cube<\/em> last year, I understood where I’d gone wrong years before. Solving one face of the cube? Easy. Where to go from there? Not a clue.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I have vague memories that I thought the next step, after solving one face, was to solve an adjacent face. I have literally no idea why<\/em> I thought this. At the age of 9 or 10, that probably made intuitive sense.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The solution guide went in a different direction — solve it in layers. Solve one face and its adjacent layer, then solve the middle layer, then solve the final layer. And if I could memorize the turning patterns used to solve the middle layer and the final layer, then I would be able to solve a Rubik’s Cube without consulting You Can Do the Rubik’s Cube<\/em>. But some of these patterns were complicated, and I despaired of ever learning them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Friday afternoon, idly thinking at my desk, I scrambled my cube and began solving the white face. Done, I wondered if I could solve the middle layer without consulting the guide. With some trial and error, I discovered I could. Then I realized that if I sat down and practiced the patterns, not worrying about solving the cube, just practicing the patterns, I could<\/em> learn these.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So I printed off the instructions from You Can Do the Rubik’s Cube<\/em> as well as a slightly different solution<\/a>. The two methods are basically the same until you get to the final layer, whereupon they different in their approaches. YCDtRC<\/em> has you solve the face then position the edges and corners correctly, while the other solution has you solve the center edge pieces then position the corners and orient them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Saturday morning, then, a mug of coffee in hand, I sat in my Adirondack chair outside and set to work memorizing patterns. I’d write the turn notation down on an index card and run through it about twenty-five times before going on to the next. Then I’d scramble the cube and start putting the steps together.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Frankly, I went with the other solution, as there was less to memorize.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I’d screw up. I’d forget a turn or get a turn backwards and mess the whole thing up. Then I’d redo the white face, solve the middle layer, and tackle the yellow face again. By lunchtime I was solving it consistently, ie., two out of three times.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

After the Harrisburg Senators game<\/a> I picked up my Rubik’s Cube and worked at practicing the routines and solving the cube until about 12:30. In the morning, armed with more coffee, I picked it up again.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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It has taken grumble-grumble years, but I have finally learned how to solve a Rubik’s Cube in five minutes, give or take.<\/a><\/p>

A post shared by Allyn<\/a> (@allyngibson) on