probes
2nd May 2014, 19:11
When Rubik invented his cube, he had little idea how to solve it. No matter which way he turned the puzzle, the colors seemed only to get more mixed up. Still, he refused to believe that it couldn’t be solved. "It was a code I myself had invented!" he wrote in an unpublished manuscript, quoted in a 1986 Discover profile. "Yet I could not read it."
Eventually, Rubik began to develop sequences of moves that would allow him to rearrange a few pieces of the puzzle at a time. First, he aligned the corners. Then, he attacked the edges. After about a month, he could resolve the puzzle at will.
now the best ones do it faster than 10 seconds.
The World Cube Association, the governing body of speedsolving, speedcubing or cubing, as it is variously known, requires competitors to attempt five solves, the best and worst of which are eliminated, and the other three times are averaged to make sure that nothing is decided by chance. Before each solve, puzzles are scrambled according to a computer program, to ensure that all competitors begin from the same positions.
Beyond the Rubik's Cube: inside the competitive world of speedcubing | Technology | theguardian.com (http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/02/rubiks-cube-competitive-world-speedcubing)
I remember trying to get just one side fixed (which was a wrong strategy, of course)...
well, be sure to watch the video, too.
How crazy can it actually get? :cool:
Eventually, Rubik began to develop sequences of moves that would allow him to rearrange a few pieces of the puzzle at a time. First, he aligned the corners. Then, he attacked the edges. After about a month, he could resolve the puzzle at will.
now the best ones do it faster than 10 seconds.
The World Cube Association, the governing body of speedsolving, speedcubing or cubing, as it is variously known, requires competitors to attempt five solves, the best and worst of which are eliminated, and the other three times are averaged to make sure that nothing is decided by chance. Before each solve, puzzles are scrambled according to a computer program, to ensure that all competitors begin from the same positions.
Beyond the Rubik's Cube: inside the competitive world of speedcubing | Technology | theguardian.com (http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/02/rubiks-cube-competitive-world-speedcubing)
I remember trying to get just one side fixed (which was a wrong strategy, of course)...
well, be sure to watch the video, too.
How crazy can it actually get? :cool: