Puzzled 2: Back to Zero. Back to One. Back to Zero.

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Back to Zero. Back to One. Back to Zero.

I messed up on my attempt to get 3 in a row. At the end I had 2 corners twisted. I think I messed up in the analysis stage. Anyway, I decided to just move on to a new scramble instead of trying and trying to get the solve on the one I messed up on.

Here is my new story. And I solved it on the first try.

F L' D B' R' U2 B U' F' L B' R D2 L' F R' B' R' U2 L

U	1	cookies	Fred-[W]
Doughnuts	4	you	Bob
H	2	H
JE1 edge 3-cycle
Twist A and B
Falling	4	Christ
Kevin	gives	praise-[R]

I was sitting upstairs with the door open. The kids were having fun downstairs making lots of noise.

I tried another scramble this evening. It seems to me I am still in the learning stages of this method and perhaps I should not worry about how many I get in a row. Just keep learning, honing, and having fun with it. On tonight's edges there was a 3-cycle, then 5 placed one-by-one, then another 3-cycle, then flip two. On the corners there were 4 one-by-one swaps and then twist 3.

On my first attempt I mixed up two letters, and didn't flip the right ones, and twisted the wrong way. It would help if I could tell clockwise from anti-clockwise! I think I will try it again before moving on. On my second try I corrected all of the mistakes of the first attempt, but left out one of the corner swaps. Doh!

[July 27] I'm not so sure about that. I am going to include the scramble and plan here in case I decide to go back to it.

U' L F D2 U R2 U' L' U' F' U L' R2 B' U2 B L' B' L U

Red down Blue front L2 then cycle with R U2 and E2
Food	gives	her	upset	stomach	diarrhea

L2 then cycle with R Di and Ei
Flip O and R

Forgive
Oh	Holy	Christ
123 anti

Tonight we had yogurt offered with our meal. And there were some left-over beans. David eats plain yogurt. He insisted on mixing beans in with his yogurt. He ate quite a few. I tried it. Not bad. We eat sour cream with refried beans. This wasn't that much different. :D

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Rubik's Cube Books

I got my first Rubik's Cube in the early nineteen eighties. The only way I could solve it was to take it apart and put it back together solved. Until, that is, I got some little books that explained sequences of moves that could be used to put pieces where you want them without messing up what was already in place.

The Simple Solution To Rubik's Cube
by James G. Nourse
Notes on Rubik's Magic Cube
by David Singmaster
Solve That Crazy, Mixed-up Cube Puzzle
by Don Frederick.

I think I put together my own strategy using bits and pieces gleaned from all three books. Eventually I lost interest and forgot how to complete the cube, forgot I had those books, and lost track of the cubes.

Mark Jeays' Working Corner Method

http://jeays.net/rubiks.htm

In 2007 my interest in Rubik's Cube was rekindled when I watched the movie The Pursuit of Happyness. Marae found my 1980s cube for me and I tried to solve it. Huh-uh. I could do part of it, but not the last layer. Looking online I found various tutorials. Mark Jeays included YouTube videos with his Solution 2. This method worked for me and although I no longer use it in its entirety, nor could I, as I have forgotten the yellow edges sequences, I still find the basic working corner technique helpful, and use a slightly modified version of his corner twisting technique at times.

In the summer of 2014 we packed 30 or so puzzles and flew to visit Raymond and Fam in the Czech Republic. Breann, who had learned this method and no other, made some comment about bubururu or something like that, and it piqued my curiosity. What were those algorithms, and how similar are they to the EPS technique I use now when using a working corner? So I looked them up. Actually, the three algorithms were for dealing with the two last edges solved, which either needed to be swapped, or flipped, or swapped and flipped. The swapper is very similar to the one I have learned and used since, but I actually like it better in one sense, with a slight modification.

To swap UR and FR without flipping:

U' R U' R' U' R U' R' U'

To swap and flip UR and FR:

F' U' F U' F' U' F U2

To flip UR and FR:

F' U F U' R U' R' U

Will I actually learn and use these? Probably not. But I like them. :)

There is a slightly different implementation of the Working Corner Method. Arnaud van Galen calls it the Keyhole Method. I like his demonstration better than the one I originally learned. It just dawned on me why he is able to get away with doing it the way he does. He goes ahead and finishes the F2L before going to the last layer, unlike the way Jeays uses the working corner (keyhole) to also get the last layer. Since I no longer use the working corner to get the last layer, I should implement Arnaud's technique.

Jasmine's Scalable Method

http://peter.stillhq.com/jasmine/rubikscubesolution.html

This was the next method I learned. For awhile the idea of speed cubing appealed to me. This promised to be a good beginner's method for those that wanted to go on to faster method's later. Now that I know what I know, I wouldn't recommend this method if your goal is to be able to consistently solve the cube in less than 30 seconds. Rubik's Speedsolver Champion Leyan Lo presents a beginner's method that I like the looks of although I've never learned it. I have recently watched Arnaud van Galen's complete beginner's method video series and recommend them. Gilles Roux presents a beginners' method that is very close to one of my favorite ways of solving the cube. The simplicity and comprehensibility make this method a good place to start if you want to understand the Rubik's Cube. Also, if you are interested in speedcubing you should check out this YouTube video.

After trying for months to get under a minute with both Jasmine's Method and the Corner's First Method—and failing, I finally decided to quit trying and just enjoy cubing at a nice slow pace.

Don't get me wrong. Jasmine's Method has its merits. The sequences for orienting the last layer edges and corners, and permuting the last layer edges are still in my arsenal of useful algorithms.

Adam Cheyer's Corners First Method

Philip Marshall's Ultimate Solution

http://helm.lu/cube/MarshallPhilipp/
After learning to solve the cube corners first, what is next? An Edges First Method! This was a very difficult tutorial to follow, but once I got it, it was my favorite way to solve the cube for awhile. It uses only a few algorithms, and when you are finished solving the cube you feel like you've solved the puzzle, not just used memorized sequences to unscramble it.

Gilles Roux presents a beginners' method that could be used to solve the cube edges first. The simplicity and comprehensibility make this method a good place to start if you want to understand the Rubik's Cube. His technique is much easier to follow than Marshall's.