Saturday, August 26, 2017

Tangram Cube Solution Plan

The way I see it everything is built around the two little corners so

Step 1. Solve the two little corners using at most one simple twist of W.

In order to establish the colors clearly I thought I would next solve the big corners. All was going well until it ended up that I needed to swap green and orange! No problem. Just twist one of the edges and it unsolved one corner and makes a 3-cycle needed.

In case someone stumbles upon this page and wonders what The Move is, you may recognize the term Edge Piece Series. Same thing. You twist a layer. Twist another layer that intersects the first layer. Twist the first layer back where it started. Twist the second layer back where it started. So it is a 4 twist sequence that 3-cycles something. It can be used one way or another in solving, as far as I know, every twisty puzzle out there. Well worth being familiar with. When I taught my grandson how to solve the Rubik's Cube I called it Al-Bob-Charlie. Move Al to Bob. Move Charlie to Al. Undo the first move. Undo the second move. He could solve all the edges and 3 of the corners using Al-Bob-Charlie and Up-Replace-Down.

Step 2. Solve the six big colors 1 or more at a time by twisting edges or using Up Replace Down to get as many of them as possible then The Move to finish up. Use one of the Little Corners and one of the Edge turns with The Move.

Step 3. Solve the 3 long edges by moving the slice so they are in the correct spots, then if necessary flip two of them. K A K A K flips L and R. You could flip L and A by moving them to R and flipping them there. Or R and A by moving them to L and flipping them there. If you need a pure flipper use (K A K' A) x 3 to flip L and A.

Step 4. Permute the 3 little edges using The Move with two Edges.

Step 5. Orient the 3 little edges. L R L R L A L A flips K1 and YP.

Step 6. Solve the centers 1 or more at a time using (J A J' A) x 3 (W L W' L) x 3 which cycles Bottom > Back > Right. The setup move W' R W swaps the centers on the right and back so the cycle is reversed.