Solving a 5x5 Rubik's Cube

In my final post, I will be talking about and talking about how to solve the 5x5 Rubik's Cube. This is the most overwhelming cube yet, with a whopping 2.8 x 10^72, or 280 trevigintillion possible configurations with once again, only 1 of those configurations being a solved cube(Harris 121).

Along with the 2x2 and the 4x4, experience and knowledge of the 3x3 cube can greatly help in learning this cube, and how to solve it. Harris agrees, "As with the 4x4x4 solution, this solution is geared toward cubers who already have some experience with the 3x3x3, have learned a solution or figured it out on their own, and can solve it from memory without any problems(Harris 121).

Thank you for reading all of my blog posts this quarter, and I hope throughout these 5 posts, if not helping you I have at least entertained you and potentially given you inspiration to try and enter the puzzling world of Rubik's Cubes.




Question: Have you every heard of and/or tried solving a 5x5 Rubik's Cube? If so how difficult was it, and how much did your knowledge of the 3x3 help you with solving it?

Harris, Dan. Speedsolving the Cube: Easy-to-follow, Step-by-step Instructions for Many Popular 3-D Puzzles. New York: Sterling Pub., 2008. Print.

Solving a 4x4 Rubik's Cube

In this post I will be talking about the 4x4 Rubik's Cube and how to solve this cube. Once again, like the 2x2 Rubik's Cube, if you have already mastered and understood the 2x2 cube, learning how to solve this cube will be a lot easier. Harris agrees with this idea, "If you are a complete novice to cubing, you may be able to follow the solution described in this section, but you will find it hard going compared with those who have experience already with the standard Rubik's Cube" (Harris 100.)

This may seem overwhelming at first especially due to the fact that; the 4x4 Rubik's cube has an astonishing 7.4 quattuordecillion possible positions with only one of those being the solved position(Harris 100). Due to this fact and also it having a 2x2 center instead of a 1x1 center, these are both reasons why people could get overwhelmed by the cube. However, if you use your knowledge of the 3x3 cube and the algorithms and tricks you learned for that cube, learning and understanding the 4x4 cube will be much easier.

Once you finally learn however, you will be amazed with what you have accomplished. Also, and added bonus is this cube will help(along with the other 2), with learning how to solve even more complicated cubes such as the 5x5 Rubik's Cube.

Question: Have you every heard of and/or tried solving a 4x4 Rubik's Cube? If so how difficult was it, and how much did your knowledge of the 3x3 help you with solving it?

Harris, Dan. Speedsolving the Cube: Easy-to-follow, Step-by-step Instructions for Many Popular 3-D Puzzles. New York: Sterling Pub., 2008. Print.

Shortening your Speed-Solving Time

In this blog post, I will be talking once again about the 3x3 Rubik's Cube, however this time I will be talking about shortening your time, and getting faster, instead of just solving it. Dan Harris starts talking about speedcubing and decreasing your time when speedcubing. One way to accomplish a faster time is just by solving the cube over and over and over again. This will improve your muscle memory and the more you solve it the better and faster you will be.

Dan Harris talks about another way to drastically improve your time; this is by how you solve it. Harris emphasizes this when he says, "In this chapter I present a wealth of information about an advanced speecubing method known as the CFOP system, which is the system I currently use for speedcubing. This method has allowed me to set personal-best average times of under 15 seconds" (Harris 40). This method was created and invented by Jessica Fridrich of the Czech Republic and is still used today in speedsolving. It is a very efficient way to solve the cube, and using this method, speedcubers, on average, can solve the cube in under 20 seconds.

This may seem new and overwhelming to all of the sudden learn a new way to solve the cube, but if you have already mastered other ways, the algorithms, and the muscle memory will kick in eventually. As Harris stated, each step of the new method requires more memorization than any step in the beginner's method, but if you learn it step by step, you will be familiar with most, maybe all of the algorithms(Harris 40). This is due to the fact that is has the sequence in a sense as the beginner's method however it takes out multiple steps for efficiency.




Question: If you have tried solving a Rubik's Cube, what was your fastest time, and if you wanted to improve it, how much practice did you have to do?

Harris, Dan. Speedsolving the Cube: Easy-to-follow, Step-by-step Instructions for Many Popular 3-D Puzzles. New York: Sterling Pub., 2008. Print.

The 2x2 Rubik's Cube

In this blog post, I will mainly be talking about the 2x2 version of the Rubik's cube. I will be talking about my own experience with the cube, and also how the book teaches and walks the reader through learning and understanding the cube.

First of all, "If you can already solve the 3x3x3, then you should have no problem with the 2x2x2. With a bit of thought, you can utilize some of the algorithms you know and apply them to the Mini Cube"(Harris 138). I completely agree with this idea. Once I had solved the 3x3 multiple times and understood it, moving on to the 2x2 was a lot easier for me, and I would definitely recommend understanding the 3x3 first, before moving on.

I agree with another thing Harris says about the 2x2, the 2x2 has a lot less combinations and possibilities than the 3x3, which is due to the fact that it has no centers or edges compared to the 3x3(Harris 138). However, keeping this in mind, if you try solving the 2x2 exactly like you would with a 3x3, I know from personal experience this will not work. You will probably end up with something like this.

However, if you combine your knowledge of the 3x3, and use Harris' simple method, you will be able to solve the 2x2 in no time. It may seem frustrating to try at first without fully understanding the 3x3, or trying without the book, but after some time with both, you will be happy with your end product.

That is all for this blog post and for the 2x2. Next I will probably be talking about the 4x4 or 5x5, or possibly going into more detail about the 3x3.

Question:What other times in your life, has learning and fully understanding one task or idea, helped you learn and master another?

Harris, Dan. Speedsolving the Cube: Easy-to-follow, Step-by-step Instructions for Many Popular 3-D Puzzles. New York: Sterling Pub., 2008. Print.

Speedsolving the Rubik's Cube

If you were asked to solve a Rubik's cube, your first thought would most likely be to tear the stickers off and then put them back on to make the cube look solved. Everyone does that at some point,  but back in 6th grade, I decided that I wanted to learn how to actually solve the cube. After doing it for about a week consistently I had gotten to about 43 seconds but then stopped soon after. And now, 4 years later, I have once again gotten into solving Rubik's Cubes, and trying different types  and dimensions. This book covers the 2x2, the 3x3, the 4x4, and the 5x5 cubes, but for this first blog post, I will try not to cover too much at once. I will be focused on the general concept and also the 3x3.

First of all, it's understandable to get overwhelmed by the cube. According to Harris, "There are an amazing 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible configurations of Rubik's Cube, and only 1 of them is the solved position"(Harris 18). And also keep in mind that learning a Rubik's Cube is sort of like riding a bike, once you know how to do it, even if you take a long break like I did, its a lot easier to learn how to solve it. But also keep in mind that like Harris said, if you are a beginner and have no experience with a cube then the most frustrating part is learning how to solve it(Harris 19). But once you do, you will feel a huge sense of accomplishment because of the work you put in. And after 4 years of not solving it, within 2 days of having this book, and spending about 30 minutes each day, I was able to memorize how to solve it again.

In the back of this book, once you have learned how to solve the regular cube or any of the 4 variations I mentioned earlier, you have a special way to reward yourself. The book gives instructions on how to make "pretty patterns" with the cube once it is solved. Here is one example of a pretty pattern that Harris gives.

In the next blogs I will be learning and sharing about the three other types of cubes the book teaches about. Last tip, or helpful information, once you know how to solve the basic 3x3 cube, it will make all the other cubes a lot easier.

Question: Have you ever tried to solve a Rubik's Cube? And if you did did you actually learn or were you one of the many who just peeled the stickers?

Harris, Dan. Speedsolving the Cube: Easy-to-follow, Step-by-step Instructions for Many Popular 3-D Puzzles. New York: Sterling Pub., 2008. Print.