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When the Rubik’s cube first came out, much was made of the fact that there were 43 quintillion possible combinations, when what really mattered was that there were 20 pieces that had to be moved into their proper places. The people who solved it basically figured out how to move those 20 pieces into their proper places one (or more) at a time. There would be a series of turns that would move _this piece_ to _that spot_ without disturbing the placement of pieces that were already correct. Over time, people developed more efficient patterns that could move multiple pieces into the right places simultaneously, but the underlying idea was the same — all the permutations didn’t matter; in the end you just had to get 20 pieces into the right places.
That’s not to say that coming up with these moves was EASY. When the cube first came out, the typical person didn’t have access to much in the way of computing power. People worked it out in their head. People who were mechanically inclined and had a gift for spatial relationships could “see” how to get this piece to that spot. The rest of us bought a book at B. Dalton and memorized the moves in it. [Here’s the one I used.](https://www.amazon.com/Jeff-conquers-cube-45-seconds/dp/0812870972)
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