I don't know why I decided to do this, maybe the boredom of isolation, but I bought a cube through the mail, and went to utube to learn how it's done. After 11 days and hundreds mistakes and failures, I solved it, and that was putting in some long hours of head banging and hair pulling. After solving it, I still found myself going back to the directions for another week. I'm just getting so I can solve it without referring to the directions, but I still have to refresh my memory from time to time.
There are various algorithms used in the process, and I found that memorizing them with your brain is not enough. I had to practice the algorithms much like one would practice the fingering on a musical instrument until one establishes muscle memory. You're spinning and twisting and thinking and counting all at the same time, so you need to be able to make the moves without thinking about it. So for a while, instead of solving, I would limit my learning to practicing the moves.
Utube does explain things, but the guys that do it are not good teachers. It's like a little kid showing you how do do something on his computer game. He just takes the controller and does it, thinking that it's helping you, when all he did was do it for you.
I never could, wouldn't spend time on it. My oldest niece mastered it quickly ;-(
Quote from: SGOS on September 04, 2020, 12:47:19 PMAfter 11 days and hundreds mistakes and failures, I solved it, and that was putting in some long hours of head banging and hair pulling.
Makes me feel better about playing hundreds of hours of spider solitaire.
Sweet !!! Your brains are like your muscles. A good workout makes it stronger
Shoot--I solved that thing years and years ago. Took me one hour. I played with the cube for an hour, put it on the ground and used a sledge hammer to solve it. There---solved................
Quote from: Mike Cl on September 04, 2020, 02:31:37 PM
Shoot--I solved that thing years and years ago. Took me one hour. I played with the cube for an hour, put it on the ground and used a sledge hammer to solve it. There---solved................
You can also repaint the the sides.
Quote from: Mike Cl on September 04, 2020, 02:31:37 PM
Shoot--I solved that thing years and years ago. Took me one hour. I played with the cube for an hour, put it on the ground and used a sledge hammer to solve it. There---solved................
Alexander the Great, I thought you were dead! (Gordian Knot).
Quote from: SGOS on September 04, 2020, 03:04:51 PM
You can also repaint the the sides.
I hadn't thought of that! I think I was so frappen frustrated by the end of the hour that I could only see that sledge--and not paint!
I admire your patience to solve that monster!
I remember that thing very well. Picked it up, spun a couple sides, looked at it, studied for about half a beer, and said. “ I ain’t got time for that shitâ€. Never for a moment have I regretted that moment. ðŸ˜
Quote from: aitm on September 05, 2020, 07:33:53 AM
I remember that thing very well. Picked it up, spun a couple sides, looked at it, studied for about half a beer, and said. “ I ain’t got time for that shitâ€. Never for a moment have I regretted that moment. ðŸ˜
Nor did I. I think I was just ready for another learning curve. The cube is not a learning curve you tackle out of some practical need. It's just a learning curve. But learning curves have always been satisfying to me. Frustrating for sure, but the final mastery is always satisfying. I have no idea, where the need to take on such an impractical task came from. It's not like I lived for years regretting never solving the cube. I just decided to do it. I suspect that some of the experts don't have to learn it. They just have an innate sense about spatial relationships. I've heard that one of the top international speed cubers is autistic.
I respect that kind of patience and drive more than a smart mind figuring it in short time.
When the colors were stick-ons you could rearrange them easily.
Quote from: drunkenshoe on September 05, 2020, 08:29:11 AM
I respect that kind of patience and drive more than a smart mind figuring it in short time.
What you said reminds me of baseball. Many assume that the major star players (Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial--that type star) would make the best managers. Not really. It is the mid-ability players who shine in that regard. Billy Martin is a good example--scrappy middle infielder who had to work, and work hard, to stay on a team, much less start for one. They can relate to the vast majority of players who have to work hard at their craft to even stay average. They know what those players struggles are, how to explain the little things and the not so little things that come naturally to the Mickey Mantle's of the world. They make the best managers. Told you my mind works a bit differently. :))
Quote from: Mike Cl on September 05, 2020, 09:01:59 AM
What you said reminds me of baseball. Many assume that the major star players (Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial--that type star) would make the best managers. Not really. It is the mid-ability players who shine in that regard. Billy Martin is a good example--scrappy middle infielder who had to work, and work hard, to stay on a team, much less start for one. They can relate to the vast majority of players who have to work hard at their craft to even stay average. They know what those players struggles are, how to explain the little things and the not so little things that come naturally to the Mickey Mantle's of the world. They make the best managers. Told you my mind works a bit differently. :))
Same with engineers and programmers. The really good ones have no time to explain things to inferiors. If you are the average lump who has to struggle with daily tasks, that puts you on the same level as the proles. Einstein and Newton couldn't lecture.
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on September 05, 2020, 08:58:14 AM
When the colors were stick-ons you could rearrange them easily.
One thing the Utube guy demonstrated was that a corner piece can be twisted by pulling it out slightly and rotating it enough to face the sides in new directions, so I suppose you could do that, but the reason he pointed that out was that some people, while turning the layers, sometimes twist a corner by accident, which will prevent a solve from happening, but I get the impression the odds against that are like a million to one. I'm not sure why he bothered pointing that out. Also, I don't think it wouldn't work as a cheat, but that's only my intuition. Each of the pieces have their final place, and they can't go anywhere else, so if you create an oddity, it cant fill a place that's already spoken for. A twisted corner can only go to it's designated corner and that is determined by mechanics of the cube and has nothing to do with colors.
In regards to the last post, how about a cube that is entirely white? It would have a final solve too, but you could never tell if it was.
Quote from: SGOS on September 05, 2020, 10:03:11 AM
In regards to the last post, how about a cube that is entirely white? It would have a final solve too, but you could never tell if it was.
They all are easy solves with a sledge.
That kind of patience is like some kind of super power in my eyes, esp. combined with some specific motivation that is not rising from need because I don't have that. Well, I don't think. It works different with me. So I admire people who can do it.
Quote from: SGOS on September 05, 2020, 10:00:51 AM
One thing the Utube guy demonstrated was that a corner piece can be twisted by pulling it out slightly and rotating it enough to face the sides in new directions, so I suppose you could do that, but the reason he pointed that out was that some people, while turning the layers, sometimes twist a corner by accident, which will prevent a solve from happening, but I get the impression the odds against that are like a million to one. I'm not sure why he bothered pointing that out. Also, I don't think it wouldn't work as a cheat, but that's only my intuition. Each of the pieces have their final place, and they can't go anywhere else, so if you create an oddity, it cant fill a place that's already spoken for. A twisted corner can only go to it's designated corner and that is determined by mechanics of the cube and has nothing to do with colors.
Why did you quote me?
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on September 05, 2020, 01:52:43 PM
Why did you quote me?
If it was reply #14, I was pointing out another way to change colors. If it was something else, I don't know. I already removed one of posts where I quoted myself, but oddly didn't reply. After so much confusion just solving the cube, I can't hardly think straight, so who knows?
Quote from: SGOS on September 05, 2020, 02:51:10 PM
If it was reply #14, I was pointing out another way to change colors.
Not even close, but there's an end to everything under Heaven.
I'm still practicing solving the cube. There is more to it than just getting it right once. The thing is quite complex and after solving it several times in a row and thinking I've got it down, I will run into situations that I haven't encountered. They will stump me for awhile, and in the worst case, I will have to jumble everything and go back to the beginning, but I'm learning how to correct mistakes in a half solved cube along the way. I'm still developing muscle memory, but I'll never be nimble enough to solve it in 3 minutes. When I focus my mind, I can solve it in under 10 minutes (this is just a guess. I've never timed myself), but if I'm distracted by something, it could take maybe 15 minutes. I can see all sorts of ways where experience will eventually shave off seconds here and there.
The guy that invented the thing has a book coming out. He has never published anything before, and he doesn't consider himself an authority on the cube either. He just designed the thing and was immediately confounded on how to unscramble it the first time. It took him weeks to put it back together again the first time. He is 77 years old, and stayed out of the limelight for the most part. He says he's still trying to understand the cube, nor is he in the speed cuber category. I don't expect it to be on the best seller list, but it will no doubt be read by the ardent cubers out there. It's just one of those ideas or inventions that became much bigger than the creator's intentions.
I had a cube almost 40 years ago, and learned it from the instructions that came with it. Since then I didn't have one until a few years ago, but I'd totally forgotten how to do it. So I went to YouTube and learned the corners- first method, and I got that down pat. There are other methods, though, like the block method and the first-two-layers method, so I guess it's time for me to try learning one of those.
I read that Rubik took 3 months to solve it after he invented it!
When I listen to KGO I like to see how many times I can scramble and solve it during the commecials - usually a couple of times.
My cube recently went missing, but I guess the universe wanted me to have it, because it came back in a week or so.
Instructions came with mine too. In fact, I have them right here in front of me, but I only looked at the first two diagrams, and then put them aside. They are mostly just arrows and letters. They reminded me of those language free instructions that come with a wheelbarrow, which are mostly useless. When I assemble a new thing, I first reach for the instructions. My next action is usually, "WTF??"