Considering a Rubik’s Cube is scrambled randomly everytime and there can not be one single approach to all the configurations, how do speed cubers solve it in such a little time?
In: Mathematics
I can solve the Rubik’s cube, in about 2-3 minutes depending on how rusty I am.
First, regardless of how it’s scrambled, you’ll always follow the same steps to solving it:
You start by solving the cross of one side, then the corners of that side so you have one side completely solved.
Then flip the cube so the solved side is on the bottom, then solve the middle row, then the cross of the top, then the corners of the top.
Now the only variance is moving pieces into the position they need to be when you make the move that puts them in the right place. You have a starting position for the piece, then the sequence of moves that puts it in the right place.
So the trick of solving it fast is understanding how moving one piece will affect the others, so rather than me looking around to find the next piece I need to put in the right position, these geniuses can look at the cube, and understand where all the other pieces will move as they move their intended piece.
So if you move the red/yellow piece, you’ll know that the red/green piece (the next one you need to solve) will end up in that specific spot and you can immediately start moving it without any time searching for it. Kinda like how chess masters think 20 moves ahead.
Also fun fact, it’s common practice to take apart your cube and lube it up with Vaseline, so it moves much, much faster. Rather than the hard plastic pieces grinding, they glide so effortlessly. This can actually make it move so effortlessly that you can cause pieces to fall out and explode the whole thing, requiring reassembly.
Just by looking at an unsolved cube they can typically imagine the moves in their head they need to make to get it solved. The actual time it takes the them to do so more has to do with their dexterity and being able to move the cube around as quickly as possible.
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